


Chuck Versus the Dive

by SteampunkChuckster



Category: Chuck (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Vacation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-30
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2019-03-11 08:32:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 33,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13520499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SteampunkChuckster/pseuds/SteampunkChuckster
Summary: AU. Chuck Bartowski is on the first vacation he's had in a very long time. Ellie buys him scuba lessons and he's now forced to face his worst fear-the ocean. Under the guidance of one of the scuba instructors, can he overcome his fear? And will he find something even greater in the meantime? Charah.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So awhile back, I asked for CHUCK prompts and I got this doozy from an anonymous contributor: "Sarah is a scuba instructor. Chuck is on her boat to go scuba diving but is afraid of the water because of something that happened when he was little."
> 
> This is the result.
> 
> It was originally a one-shot, but I've been adding to it because writing it makes me happy and it's nice to just write something that exercises my fluff muscles and lets me have fun with these two beautiful DORKS. I sincerely hope you all enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own CHUCK.

"Hello?"

"Ellie, I can't. I just can't."

He heard a heavy sigh on the other end of the line. "Chuck, we've been through this."

"Yes. Yes, I know. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm not doing it."

"You are doing it."

"Nope. No, I am not."

There was the sound of a struggle on Ellie's side of the conversation, and then he heard Captain Awesome's muffled voice saying, "I got this, babe. I got it, just lemme talk to him. Lemme—Hey, Chuck. Sup, bro."

"Hi! Awesome. You're probably not the person I want to talk to right now because you're fearless and a bad ass and…Captain Awesome," Chuck said, trying to be pleasant with his sister's boyfriend. It was hard not to be, though. He was just a sincerely sweet guy, in spite of all of the things that could make another guy want to hate him. Perfect body, dazzling smile, athleticism spilling out of his ears, and an M.D. after his name. Captain Awesome, M.D. I should hang that on his office door. Ellie would kill me. If I survive this.

Chuck's gaze moved to the boat floating in front of him and felt a little green just looking at it.

"Nooo, no, no. Chuck, I'm afraid of things, too."

"Really? Like what?" Chuck waited to hear Devon Woodcomb's answer. And waited. And waited. And then he heard Devon say something to his sister.

Something that sounded a lot like "Hey El. Can you think of something I'm afraid of?" And then his voice returned to the phone. "Your sister, man. And the look she's giving me right now. Okay, well…I can see that I'm not helping much here, so lemme just say one last thing before your sister kills me. Be brave, bro. Be brave. Trust me, whatever you end up seeing out there might change your life, okay?"

Ellie must've yanked the phone from her boyfriend then because she was back.

"Chuck, do it for yourself, okay? You're on vacation. Take a risk. It'll be worth it, I promise. And there are licensed scuba instructors, right?"

"I have to go," he finally said after mulling it over.

"Go, as in…you're getting on the boat?"

"I haven't decided."

"Chuck! Do it for me if you won't do it for yourself! Devon and I bought that scuba lesson for your birthday, and if you don't go, we'll be out a lot of money. Remember that house we wanna buy together someday…?"

Chuck groaned. "That's not fair. Don't guilt trip me about your Woodtowski house!"

"Well, I wasn't going to. But you left me no choice. It was always Plan B." She laughed a little and sighed. "Come on, Chuck. Do it."

"I have to go," he said again.

"Tell me how it goes later, huh? Call me tonight. Or tomorrow, actually. I'm working the overnight shift."

Chuck sighed. "Alright, then. Tomorrow."

"Dooo iiiit," she said in a sing-songy voice. He heard Awesome joining in behind her voice, and he finally hung up and rolled his eyes, before staring at the boat again. People were crowding him now. All of them, like him, had taken a written test earlier to make sure they'd read up on the safety features and the proper way to breathe and never wander from your partner…yadda yadda.

Chuck had passed with flying colors.

He retained information well. That's how he got into Stanford and that's how he graduated in less than four years. Passing a written test was so easy it was laughable. But this part…the getting on the boat part and leaving solid, dry land…and then having to bob around out there where there was so…much…water…

Chuck swallowed thickly. He wasn't the sort to get seasick. That wasn't the problem. But he was terrified of the ocean. He'd seen what it could do to a person. He'd experienced it firsthand.

"You gettin' on, kid?"

"John…"

"What? He's just standin' there. Don't worry, kid. No sharks on the boat."Chuck gave the guy behind him a bit of a glare, then noticed how much bigger and meaner he looked, so he decided not to pursue anything further, and instead he moved up with the group of people spreading onto different boats.

As he climbed onto the boat, Chuck counted ten other people besides him. Including the grump and his wife or girlfriend or whoever the dark haired woman standing next to him was.

Just standing on the boat, feeling the water smack the sides of it, almost able to feel it underneath him, in spite of there being cabins down there or whatever else came with a large-ish boat like this. He was surrounded by water.

There was still time to get off. He could go sit on the beach like a lot of people did while on vacation in Hawaii. That was safe. He only had to fear a sunburn. But the hotel let you rent umbrellas for cheap. Win win win win win how could he get off this damn thing?

The grumpy guy was blocking the plank.

He didn't want to have to go through the grumpy guy. Not at all.

And he couldn't lie to Ellie. He'd always been horrible at it, and he also didn't want to. It wasn't worth it.

"Okay, are you my people?"

Chuck turned to look at the woman coming up the plank as John the Grump moved aside to let her onto the boat. She was taking a headcount, her eyes flashing over him for just a moment as she counted him.

"Looks like everybody," she said, smiling in a friendly way, tucking her clipboard under her arm and clasping her hands together in front of her.

Her eyes were incredibly blue. And he felt stupid for staring at her like this, but he couldn't look away from just how blue they were. Especially in the bright Hawaiian sunlight.

An older man came up the plank behind her and clapped her on the shoulder, before he took over. The pair introduced themselves, then began going through the rules, making sure everyone confirmed that they'd signed the papers necessary, and finally went through safety measures. Everybody needed to have a buddy, no one was to wander off alone, even if they were experienced, et cetera.

And then the older man, Alexei, pointed to the wheelhouse and made his way through the clump of vacationers to power the boat up, a brilliant grin on his face. He reminded Chuck of an older James Bond, like if Bond reached a certain age, retired, and decided to become a scuba instructor in Hawaii. As long as they didn't end up being shot at…

While everyone else found a spot to settle, Chuck stood rigid, aware that this was his last chance to bolt before they left the dock.

"Hey." He spun to find Sarah, the first instructor who'd stepped onto the boat, standing there. She gave him a bit of a look. "Don't do it."

He frowned a little in confusion. "Huh?"

"Don't get off. I mean, you can. If you want to. I can stop Alexei. But stay."

"Sorry, I wasn't…Hi. I'm…" He stopped and let out a breath. So maybe he wasn't getting off after all. He couldn't let her make it into a huge deal, get Alexei to stop…And then Chuck would have to walk past everyone and it would be so mortifying. Grumpy John would make fun of him or something. Crap. "Sorry, I'm—I'm here," he said, pointing to the deck he stood on.

"It's okay. You just…might wanna sit down. You might fly over the side once he guns it, standing here like this."

"Right! Right, I'll…I'll go sit." He looked around to see if there was any seating, but then she put a hand on his shoulder and pointed over by the wheelhouse.

He followed her, wondering if she knew she was playing with fire here. The second she took him under her wing, he'd be following her around the boat like a lost kid. He was totally vulnerable out here. Defenseless. Terrified.

She sat on a small seat that jutted out from the side of the wheelhouse and he sat on the one next to her, nervously pushing his hands down his swim trunks and clearing his throat.

The boat lurched away from the dock after a short rumble and Chuck grabbed the railing and held on tight, aware of how ridiculous he probably looked to the woman who made trips like this all the time. She was probably fearless. And so tan and gorgeous, to boot. With unbelievably magnificent muscles and stunning blond hair. Wow, how had he missed that?

Probably because he was freaking out when she first stepped on the boat. On the verge of a nervous breakdown.

"What's your name?" she asked, and he knew she was purposefully ignoring his obvious terror at being on a boat that was currently taking him far away from solid land.

"Uhh, Chuck. I'm Chuck. And you're Sarah."

"I am."

They shook hands.

"I know that because you…you…introduced yourself. Earlier." He looked away and winced, even as he heard her giggle quietly. He'd almost missed it over the roar of the engine.

"What're you doing out here, Chuck?" she asked.

"That is a really good question."

That made her laugh. "So I take it you don't want to be out here."

Chuck wanted to deny it for half a second. But he realized she must've gotten dopes like him nearly every day on these scuba trips. Dopes trying to beat their fear of the ocean. And she'd see right through him. He'd only look like a fool.

So he shrugged. "Nope."

"Then why do it? …If you don't mind me asking," she tacked on the end politely.

He turned to look at her, resting his chin on his bicep as he still held onto the railing in front of him with both hands. "Uhhhh…Well. My sister and her boyfriend bought me this lesson for my birthday."

"Is it your birthday?" She tilted her head, and with the way the wind was whipping at the hairs that escaped her ponytail, she was quite possibly the nicest thing he'd ever laid eyes on in his life.

"Uhh, no. No, not now. But it, uh, it was a week ago. So…this was their gift. To me."

"Nice gift." He scoffed and she made a face. "Okay, so…bad gift?"

And then he realized this was her career and he was probably being extremely disrespectful about something she obviously loved, so he spun to face her quickly, letting go of the railing and holding his hands up. "No, it's—it's not that. This is really nice. It's a nice gift, but for me it isn't…I'm just…not a big…" He sighed deeply. "I don't do…ocean. It was a big deal just getting me onto an island."

She chuckled. "Really? I mean, it's a pretty big island."

"Yeah. I mean, it isn't…um…I can't think of a tiny island right now. You know, the islands in cartoons with the one palm tree and it's only like…this big." He spread his arms out and found himself smiling when she laughed, rocking to the side a little.

"Right. One of those."

"You know what I mean."

"I do," she said, still smiling wide. "Well, what if I told you that getting on this boat is the best decision you're gonna make during your time here?"

"I wouldn't believe you. Honestly."

"Well, thanks for being honest." She chuckled again and he realized she was setting him at ease more than the phone call with Ellie and Awesome had, at least. "But I mean it. You're going to see some amazing things down there." She shook her head. "I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't great every single time I dive."

He watched her for a moment, then bit his lip, wrinkling his nose at her in a bit of a wince at the question he was about to ask. "Has anyone ever died down there. Like…drowned? Suffocated?"

Sarah's eyes widened. "Wow. Getting right to the hard-hitting questions. Okay. Um…Well, not on my watch. Maybe someone…somewhere has. Because they're with an instructor who isn't licensed or trained." She leaned close. "That's not gonna happen. That isn't how we do business."

"Right." He sighed. "Sorry. I'm just…"

"Scared?"

"Absolutely terrified out of my wits."

The instructor chuckled again and kept smiling at him, setting a hand on his shoulder. "I'd tell you not to be, but that never seems to help. You just gotta tough it out until we get down there. I'll take you down myself." She raised her eyebrows and ducked her chin, looking through her lashes at him and all he could do was smile back and nod.

It took awhile for them to get out to the diving spot, and most of it was spent with Sarah moving back and forth between Chuck and answering questions that the others asked, while Alexei steered. The kind instructor provided the terrified nerd with enough distraction, however, that he was able to enjoy the feeling of the spray against his face.

Yes, the ocean was terrifying. But it was also pretty as the sunlight danced on its surface. Sort of. Mostly, though, it was just terrifying. Cruel and terrifying.

They dropped anchor and Alexei joined them as everyone pulled their wetsuits and flippers on. Chuck didn't particularly enjoy the look one of the guys was throwing Sarah as she stripped down to a bikini before pulling her wetsuit on, but he quickly told himself to grow up. She was an adult and she probably dealt with that sort of thing every day. It was none of his business.

"Okay, everybody have your partner?" Sarah turned to Alexei and gestured to Chuck subtly, upon which the middle aged man gave Chuck an encouraging thumbs up before taking over the instructions. Sarah wandered over to where Chuck stood, feeling clownish in his wetsuit and massive bright orange slippers.

"Is it customary for scuba divers to look and feel like penguins before they dive?" he asked, because making jokes was one of his coping mechanisms. Just one of them.

Sarah just gave him a flat look. "Yes, actually. You need the flippers to swim and the wetsuit makes the air tank comfortable. Not to mention the water might be freezing without it. Should I go on?"

Chuck gaped for a second, then made a popping sound with his lips. "Nope. No, I'm good, thanks."

She giggled and helped him shrug his tank on, making sure it was secure, before going through some of the other students to make sure they were set. She and Alexei went through breathing exercises for a few minutes with everyone, and then it was time.

A few couples had already done it before and went off on their own, while Alexei helped the others who were newbies like Chuck. Sarah guided the last four into the water, waved Alexei off, and moved to straddle the railing with her goggles in place.

Chuck, however, stood still as a statue on the deck, his goggles propped on top of his head, his messy curls going every which way around them. And he just stared at the slowly descending dark figures of the rest of the team.

"Chuck? You okay?"

He jolted a little. "Yeah, I'm—You know what? You go ahead. Don't worry about me. I think I'm gonna sit this one out."

She just stared at him for awhile…long enough to make him squirm a bit uncomfortably. Was she judging him for wimping out? He didn't care. He couldn't do this. He'd promised himself he would never do anything in the ocean again and he'd meant it, damn it.

But then she swung her leg back over and walked up to him, moving her goggles back up to the top of her head, revealing those stunning eyes of hers to him again. He felt a little dizzy, and he wondered if it was from fear, or maybe from breathing too much of that tank air.

"What happened, Chuck? What made you so terrified of the ocean?"

"It's not—It isn't important. I-I'll go. I just need a second to, uh, to prepare—"

"Hey, it's okay," she interrupted. "They're gonna be down there for awhile. We've got the time."

"But don't you have to help the others?"

"Alexei's got it. He's done groups of fifteen by himself. Let it out, Chuck. It might help." She shrugged one shoulder adorably.

Chuck sighed, then pulled his bottom lip between his teeth and furrowed his brow. Her hand was on his wrist and she was looking at him in a certain way, one that made him feel like his insides were melting. Or something equally…warmifying.

And he started in, well aware that this was the first time he talked about it with anyone aside from his immediate family—Ellie, Devon, Morgan…Nobody else. Part of him feared how much Sarah would see, if he'd let his emotions get the better of him. He felt reassured that she wouldn't judge or pity him.

"When I was fifteen, I went out on my friend's dad's sailboat. It was me, my buddy, his brother, his dad. Spring break. We were on spring break up in Seattle where their extended family lived." She nodded. "We went pretty far out there, and it was totally fine. We were having a blast, fishing and swimming. Then a storm came. Totally out of nowhere. Nothing in the weather reports. The waves got insane and we almost capsized a few times. My friend's brother got hit with the…boom thingy." Chuck let his eyes drop away from her face. "He was going over and I saw it happening in slow motion almost. I barely grabbed him but he was a lot bigger than me so we both…" He gestured flipping over the railing with his hands and then rubbed the back of his neck. He couldn't look at her because he was legitimately trying to fight back the lump in his throat. He felt the sting of tears and held them at bay, remembering it all so vividly that his heart was racing.

"Oh my God. You fell in?" Her voice was quiet, breathless, and he still couldn't look.

"My friend's dad got us back on. I managed to grab onto the rope when he threw it and I got Victor over my shoulder. They pulled us both up but by then Victor's head wound was bad and there was a lot of water that he'd swallowed…" He pointed to his chest and pressed his lips together. "Anyway, he didn't make it."

He suddenly had to look, and he was just in time to see Sarah's face crumble in disbelief and sadness, and he was glad to see a lack of pity or sympathy. Just sadness, and he saw that she was even a little unsure about what to say. "That's terrible. I'm so sorry," she finally said. And her hand was comforting and warm against his bicep when she laid it there.

"Nah, it's—I'm not gonna say it's okay, because obviously it's not." He gestured to himself, then to the water. "It's just…ever since then, I haven't set foot on a boat and I don't go further into the ocean than up to my waist. I just…I have this memory of the ocean opening up and sucking me under. That…pull. Like it was alive or something. Like it wanted to drown me."

Chuck shook his head, trying to laugh at himself, even though the lump still hadn't gone away as the memories of that day assailed him. The pain of the icy water around him and in his lungs. The terror of seeing those clouds come in and watching the waves grow bigger and bigger with every second that passed. And the horror on his friend's dad's face. The numerous times he'd thought he would die.

And then the debilitating anguish when he realized Victor had died. The numbing loneliness of not knowing what to say or do as a family that wasn't his own mourned an incredible loss.

"It's okay, Chuck. It's good to get it out there. I think. That's what people usually say, isn't it?"

He chuckled, finding her incredibly charming and sweet at the moment. "Sounds about right."

"Yeah." She wrinkled her nose and patted his chest. "So, here's the deal. This boat is thoroughly anchored right where it is. It isn't going anywhere." Chuck looked down and nodded, before looking back into her calming gaze. "And I'm pretty good at weather stuff. Call it a sixth sense or something, but I know there's no storm anywhere around here. Look, there's that one teeny tiny puff of cloud. And it's white. If a storm does start to roll in, we'll be back on land before it hits. We're not so far out that we can't get home safely."

Chuck thought that if anybody else was saying these things, he'd feel like he was being patronized or mocked. But he could tell she was sincerely trying to reassure him. And he smiled a little.

"Like I said before, I won't let you out of my sight." And then she took his hand, squeezing it comfortingly. "If you want, I can even hold your hand. If it'll help." She seemed to add that as an afterthought, and she looked down at their hands for a long moment before pulling away. "What d'ya say? Ready to go down there with me?"

He took a deep breath, then looked "down there". It looked so dark. Bottomless.

"Come on," she said softly, wrinkling her nose. And when he didn't respond right away, she tilted her head adorably and drawled a teasing, "Pleeease?"

He nodded, grinning wildly as she giggled and smacked his chest with both hands.

"That's the spirit! Come on, do what I do."

In spite of the icy terror flowing through his veins, he followed her into the water, submerged in the Pacific Ocean for the first time since he was fifteen years old and sure he'd breathed his last breath. He nearly hyperventilated, in spite of the mouth piece that was giving him oxygen.

He thrashed a little bit, his heart pounding, and the mouth piece came out of his mouth. He nearly gasped, but stopped himself just in time.

And then she was there, her blue eyes reassuring behind the goggles as she took him by the shoulders and held him steady. And then she pointed to her mouth, taking the mouth piece out and pushing it between his lips. She mimed taking some deep breaths, then gestured again and took it back, putting it in her mouth and taking some deep breaths.

They did that for awhile until he started getting the hang of it, and then she took his own mouth piece and had him put it back between his lips. She made the okay sign with her fingers and he followed suit, and then she took his hand and pulled him along.

She didn't take him very deep. And she didn't have to, because the fish skirting the surface were the most stunning creatures he'd ever seen in his life. He even laughed when one made a figure-eight around his legs, tickling him a little.

Sarah's face lit up behind her mouth piece and goggles at that. Then she guided him along again until they reached a rock formation. There was something of a cave there and a few of the other divers had just disappeared inside of it.

But where did it lead, he wondered? They were insane! He'd never—Oh no. No no no.

He shook his head emphatically and made a NO WAY signal, slicing his hands through the water. He was not going in there, even though she gestured for him to follow. But then she went without him, swimming down to the entrance, her body moving the way he imagined a mermaid would move underwater if they existed. Or maybe this was like Splash and he was Tom Hanks and she was his Daryl Hannah. Sarah had blond hair. And she was stunning—like, model on magazine covers stunning.

And now she was looking up at him, gesturing for him to follow. He didn't, shaking his head again. This would not be the day he died, a'thank you. Not because some unbelievably cute, seriously kind scuba instructor asked him to go into a deep potentially endless cave that he ended up getting lost in and drowning in. Yeah, she had the bluest eyes and a smile that wouldn't quit. But that wasn't enough for him to risk his life. Hell no.

Sarah swam back up and floated in front him, simply looking at him for a few seconds, as if sizing him up, and then she moved closer and put her hand over his heart. She pointed to him with the other hand, and then covered her own heart and pointed to herself. Then she pulled her mouth piece out, mouthing what looked like "Trust me" around the bubbles the spilled through her lips.

She put the mouthpiece back in and took his hand, squeezing it tightly and tilting her head.

So maybe he did die today. At least he wouldn't be disappointing this one of a kind woman who seemed to believe in him for whatever reason. Rolling his eyes at himself, he swam after her, stalling at the mouth of the cave as he looked inside.

She pulled a flashlight from her belt and thumped it against her palm a few times, before a beam of light exploded from the end of it and she pointed it into the cave. A flurry of fish burst from the mouth of the cave and made Chuck yelp so loudly, Sarah turned and gave him a wide-eyed look before laughing around the mouth piece, needing to reach up and fix it.

He gave her a glare and smirked to himself as she pulled him into the cave.

It took only a moment of swimming in terror for him to realize that it wasn't a cave at all. Instead it was a tunnel. There was another side. He could see the light from it. And so many creatures lived in the nooks and crannies of the tunnel, along with beautiful coral and plants that he'd never thought he'd ever see in person in his entire life.

He tried not to let it take his breath away, since breathing seemed to be rather important in his current situation, but it was almost too much for him to handle.

It was life-changing.

A part of the world that most people never got to see was spread out right in front of him, there for him to reach out and touch. But he kept his hand in Sarah's as she slowly guided him through the tunnel.

They spent a long time in there together, and Chuck found that he'd never been so at peace in his life. The water was completely silent, and everything around him floated so gently, so comfortingly. The light beginning to grace them as they neared the end of the tunnel was making everything look like it was part of a dream.

He wondered just for a moment if this was a dream.

An angelic woman taking him down beneath the surface of the ocean to show him the most beautiful sights he'd ever seen in his life…It had to be a dream.

But it wasn't. Her grip on his hand was too real. And even in the coolness of the water, her palm was so warm against his. He watched her for awhile, without her knowing, as she pointed things out to him, her lips turning up in a smile as she looked back at him.

Could he stay down here forever, he wondered?

With her?

Just the two of them and the fish and the peacefulness that touched every last corner of life down here. It sounded like heaven.

They explored for what felt like hours, still holding hands. And she allowed him to touch things here and there, feel the smoothness or the sliminess of it. And once, there was a moment when his hand draped over hers and she neglected to pull her hand out right away like she'd done all the times before. Instead they'd stayed that way, and she'd turned to look at him, their faces so close. Chuck looked straight into her eyes for what must have been a few minutes. Or maybe it was only a few seconds. He didn't know. All he knew was that his heart was racing and that it was the best moment of his life.

When they finally broke surface awhile later, Sarah reached out to pull the mouth piece out from his lips, doing the same for herself and leading him back to the boat. It was almost like a spell had been broken as they climbed back onto the boat to join everyone else. Alexei announced that they were the last ones, giving Chuck a massive grin and an excited thumbs up. The man must have recognized his terror at the beginning, and put the pieces together that Chuck staying down there with Sarah for such a long time meant the experience had been a good one.

That was an understatement.

He gave Alexei a thumbs up in return, before pulling his goggles off and wincing when they got caught in his hair. Sarah was there again, miraculously down to just her wetsuit, the tank and flippers gone, along with the safety belt she'd been wearing, the suit's zipper undone all the way to her bellybutton.

Chuck didn't look, instead shutting his eyes to be safe as she painlessly extracted the goggles from his curls and helped him shrug the tank back off, setting it to the side.

She patted him on the shoulder wordlessly and moved to take her spot in the wheelhouse as Alexei weighed anchor, before they powered up and turned around, headed back towards land. Chuck tried not to stare at Sarah as she concentrated on steering, but he was just…thunderstruck. Or something.

Did this happen to everyone she took down there? He imagined it might. How many lives did she change on a weekly basis? And he needed to rein himself in before he started seeing her as some sort of sexy version of Mother Theresa. He didn't know anything about this woman.

But she had changed his life. And wasn't that enough?

How many other people had thought the same thing about her?

He turned away and leaned against the railing, turning to look forward, letting the wind hit him right in the face and smiling a bit dreamily. Everything that he'd just experienced down there was…

It was miraculous.

And he felt an ache in his heart as he thought about it. All of the fear and anger he'd kept inside of him for the past ten years had somehow been muted when he was down there. And now that he was back up here again, it all seemed so…pointless. Hating the ocean, hating how it had traumatized him, how it had killed a boy who'd been planning to go to med school, how it had ruined a family, broken it apart piece by piece…All of that had been inside of him for ten years.

Today he'd seen another part of it. A gentler, more peaceful part.

Today, he'd been shown that the ocean was almost human in its fickleness. But so much better, at the same time. So much more beautiful, even in its fury.

He thought about what he would tell Ellie, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to stop himself from crying when he called her tomorrow. Just thinking about it now, trying to describe the way the anger and tension left him, trying to describe what he'd seen, how calm it was…how beautiful it all was…he blinked at the tears gathering in his eyes, feeling them drip down his cheek.

The wind whipping at his face pushed them back into his hair before they made it very far, but he rubbed his cheeks with his fingers anyway, and he stood that way the rest of the journey back to land.

**\-------------------**

Everyone had moved away from the dock, including Alexei, who gave Chuck's hand a hearty shake before getting into the small jeep and driving the supplies back up to the office on top of the hill. Sarah stayed at the boat, tugging on the rope to make sure it was tied securely in place, and then swinging a backpack onto her shoulder.

Chuck stood a few feet away, still not moving, just staring down at the wood beneath his feet. Part of him was screaming to just walk away as the others did. She was a scuba instructor. She did this for people every day, probably. He was nothing special. And yet, she couldn't even possibly know how special she was to him now, after the change he'd gone through down there. How he'd grown up so much.

He wondered if he was being too intense.

Or maybe she'd felt it, too. Or he was just seeing what he wanted to see.

But before he could listen to the part of him that told him to run and not look back, she turned to glance over her shoulder. It was apparent by her smile that she'd known he was still there all along, and she straightened up to face him.

"So?"

"Uhhhh…" He shrugged.

"That's it? Really?" She spread her arms out and raised her eyebrows.

He chuckled and held up a hand, walking closer. "No, no. I just don't really know if there are words that can properly convey how I feel about—about what…" Chuck took a deep breath. "…happened down there. To me."

Sarah softened significantly as she looked up at him. "So it was good?"

"It was very good. Um, miraculous. That was the word I decided on while I was down there." And then he stepped closer, cutting off whatever she might say in response. "I want to thank you, Sarah. You didn't let me just bow out and stay on the boat by myself. You didn't let me stay back when I was afraid to go into that tunnel, no matter how adamant I was. And because of that, I experienced something…" He couldn't find the words again and he shook his head. "God, it was just…something. And it—it changed my life."

She took a long, slow breath, her features so warm and gorgeously sun-kissed. But she didn't say anything, so he continued.

"I know you do this every day. For so many different people. And you've probably taken people down there who were just as affected by it all as I was…as I am. Still. Standing right here. Honestly, I think I'll remember that feeling down there for the rest of my life. Seriously. When I'm back home in LA stuck in traffic and road rage comes over me, that feeling is what I'll think about to get my calm center back."

Her giggle bubbled out of her like she just couldn't keep it in if she tried.

"I know…I know there are a lot of people you do this for. And I'm just…one of the many. But you need to know, I'm extremely grateful. And this has so far been the best day…ever."

She beamed. "Wow." And he shrugged at that, fiddling with the hem of his T-shirt. Nervously. Considering what he was about to ask. "You know, Chuck…I'm really not sure anybody has ever really seemed to see it like you…" She shook her head. "I could feel it changing you. When we were down there. I could see it in your face."

"Oh, does this do something for you?" He puffed his cheeks out and held his fingers up to his eyes to mimic wearing goggles, earning a laugh from her.

"I'm a scuba instructor, Chuck. Maybe it does." The look she sent him made him drop the act and just watch her for a moment. Was she flirting? Because he felt like she was. In fact, she definitely was. "And I maybe caught a glimpse of something on the boat after, while I was steering us home." She pursed her lips and twisted them to the side, looking a little shy all of a sudden.

"Oh no." He winced. "Did you see the…?" He pointed to his eyes.

"I maybe caught a tear or two."

Chuck groaned dramatically, using humor to cover the fact that he was actually incredibly embarrassed that she'd seen him that raw. But then her hands were on his biceps as she rushed to reassure him. "Noo, no. Please don't be embarrassed!" Sarah waited for him to look down at her again before she continued. "It was nice having someone on my boat who really gets what I see when I'm down there. What I feel."

"Like it's the quietest, most peaceful place in the entire world? Untouched by man, not corrupted by anything," he breathed. And she nodded slowly, smiling. "Which leads me to my next…I'm just gonna go for it, damn it. Being down there has given me this new…purpose in life, so I'm just gonna go ahead and do this. Do you wanna have dinner with me tonight? If you aren't busy."

She dropped her hands to her side and pulled her chin back a little, smiling and looking up at him through her lashes. "Conquer one fear and all of a sudden you're asking girls out to dinner, Chuck? Huh."

Chuck knew she was ribbing him, but he still had to fight to keep from blushing. "I owe you. Big time."

Sarah looked a bit wary at that, so he clarified quickly.

"Not just that, though. Obviously. Obviously, I do owe you something. More than just the fee my sister and her boyfriend paid to get me in. But I actually just want to eat dinner with you. I don't want to walk away without at least that much. Just…a little more time."

He wasn't completely stupid. He knew he'd be leaving Hawaii in twenty-two days, going back home to Los Angeles, back to his company, and away from her again. This wasn't something that would last for years and years. But he'd regret it forever if he walked away without at least knowing a little more about her.

"If you don't want to, I get it. I get that. Totally understand. You probably get guys like me asking you to dinner all the time. But I had to ask. It's just we were down there and I kinda thought…maybe there was—"

"There was," she said quickly, her voice strong and sure. Chuck blinked, not expecting that. And so quick, too. "And yes."

"Yes…?"

"To the dinner invitation. But I, uh…I want to clean up first. If that's okay with you."

"So okay! Yes! I—I smell like ocean."

She snorted a little and it was the cutest thing he'd ever heard. "Right, and we don't want that, since you aren't much of a fan of the ocean."

"Ehhhh, I'm kinda okay with it, now. It's growing on me," he drawled, smiling slowly. "So yes on dinner?"

"Mhm." She nodded, and she seemed a little shy again. He was all about Sarah the Scuba Instructor and that sweet smile of hers. "What about seven o'clock? I'll pick you up."

"But—"

"I know." She held up a hand. "You invited me. But I know this place a lot better than you do. And I have a car. I'll pick you up. Seven good?"

"Perfect," he breathed, and he knew he sounded a little goofy, his smile crooked and dreamy.

As she walked away from him slowly, still facing him as she backed up, she smirked. "And by the way, I saw on our sign-up sheet which hotel you're staying at. So don't worry, I'll let you pay."

He laughed as she grinned cheekily and practically sashayed away from him to the steps that led up the hill towards the office. And he stayed there watching her go, glad when she turned to wave at him one last time.

It took everything in him not jump into the air and punch his fist above his head like a cartoon character Or maybe walk away and punch his fist above his head like the ending of The Breakfast Club.

Instead, he calmly walked back to the main street and strolled along the sidewalk, knowing he wouldn't be able to stop smiling for the rest of the night.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!

After all of the important meetings he'd ever been to in his life, Chuck Bartowski knew how to dress himself. He knew how to tie his own ties, even those of the bow variety. He'd started buying clothes that actually fit him, instead of always wearing the suits his father had left behind. The ones that were always been too big around the waist and not quite long enough for his legs.

But he hadn't been on a proper date in years.

And so…Chuck Bartowski, the intrepid scuba diving fear conquering tech nerd, stared blankly at the clothes hanging in his hotel suite's closet. And he had been staring for a good ten minutes.

He had half an hour until he would meet Sarah the scuba instructor outside of his hotel.

Would she take him someplace casual? Someplace fancy?

She seemed pretty laid back. So it would probably be casual. But he didn't want to chance it with shorts, a t-shirt, and flip flops.

But then he couldn't help wondering if she thought the expensive hotel he was staying in meant he was filthy rich and would prefer a restaurant that was as expensive as his hotel. What if she showed up in a gown? It wasn't like he'd packed a tux. Suits, sure. The bar at the topmost level of his hotel was formal wear only, and it was on the website when he booked his suite, so he'd brought an array of suits.

What if she had a tuxedo place in mind?

It would be so embarrassing, explaining to her his lack of a tux. Would they have to stop somewhere to buy one? That would be ridiculous. But then they'd have to go to a less fancy place and she'd probably feel totally overdressed and the whole date would be absolutely ruined.

And then he thought about how that line of thought did her a disservice. She didn't seem like the shallow or superficial type. What each of them wore wouldn't make any difference to her…not really. Right? Of course.

Miraculously, even with the ridiculous paranoia plaguing the inexperienced dater in him, Chuck ended up standing at the roundabout driveway of the suite, shuffling away from the bustling bellhops to keep out of their way as people pulled up to check in.

He checked his watch and saw that it was a few minutes after seven. She wasn't going to stand him up. She'd be well within her rights to do so after he came on so hard. By the time he got back to his suite and hopped in the shower, he was so mortified by how intense he'd been.

But she had said yes.

And she was a woman of her word. He only spent a few hours with her earlier on in the day, but she told him he'd be safe. She told him she'd stay with him down there. And she told him he'd be missing out if he didn't go down. She came through on all three counts. More than came through.

Just as he doubled down on his confidence that she'd show up, he saw the red convertible Camry slide smoothly into the driveway and swoop around, coming to a stop in front of him. She turned to look at him, her loose hair so wavy and tousled from driving about in a convertible. There was an easy, natural smile on her face.

Chuck hurried from where he leaned against the wide beam and opened the passenger door, sliding into the passenger seat and shutting the door again. He rubbed his hands down the thighs of his pants and held onto his knees. "Hello."

"Hi there," she said back, still smiling. "Sorry I'm late. Hawaii traffic."

"Pfft, totally good."

Her blue eyes slid down his figure and back up again, before she turned to face forward. "Buckle up."

He did, and the car moved forward so fast that he was quite nearly slammed back against his seat.

So. She was one of those drivers.

Chuck decided he could deal with that as he quickly took her in. She looked absolutely stunning. Her blond locks whipped about her face as she pulled onto the road and started driving…fast…was the nicest way to put it.

She wore a patterned sundress that was…coral? Was that the color? Sure. Coral. He thought that sounded about right. With thin straps and a low neckline, which he immediately diverted his gaze from because it was just low enough that he didn't want to stare. Lest she think he was that sort of a guy.

The sun had just slipped behind the horizon a little earlier, and Chuck thought perhaps Sarah the scuba instructor was the only ray of sunlight left on the entire island tonight. She was positively radiant.

"Nice car," he said, swallowing thickly as he tried to keep from looking at her too much, too long.

"Thank you. It gets me where I need to go," she said with a modest one shouldered shrug.

"In styyyle," he drawled, narrowing his eyes and cutting his hand through the air in front of him. He grinned slowly as she giggled and shook her head.

She scoffed then, stopping at the light and turning to him. "Not so much. It needs some paint, maybe. But hey, it was the cheapest used convertible I could find when I first got here so I snatched it up."

"A convertible girl, huh?"

The look on her face was a bit mischievous. "Guilty. Wind in my hair and all that."

Oh, he liked this woman. He liked her very much. And he wondered how much it showed on his face, and maybe he shouldn't be smiling at her like this, so he schooled his features and nodded, turning to look ahead as she slammed her foot on the gas pedal when the light turned green.

"She's not the fanciest car around, but she's got the stuff," she added.

"She has at that," Chuck said, patting the dashboard in front of him. That seemed to please Sarah greatly as she turned to look at him with a smile. He smiled back at her and squirmed to get more comfortable in his seat. "You look beautiful. By the way."

That he could say without reservation, without even a smidgeon of shyness. Because it was the truth and she deserved to know it.

And she received it with an equal amount of shyness—which was to say, none at all. She probably got it all the time from men. "Better than a bikini, huh?"

That wasn't fair. And he knew he was blushing as he stared straight ahead. "Um, a bikini has its perks." He hadn't meant it the way it sounded and he felt his face crumble into a what the hell did I just say look. Thank God she was laughing about it. "Not that I know. I've never worn one."

He winced. Shut up shut up shut up.

She laughed even harder. "You should try it sometime."

And he knew he was redder than a tomato as her striking blue eyes swept over his form. He didn't know if she'd meant for him to see that, so he just blinked and looked straight ahead. "Maybe I will. Some time." She giggled. "Uh, s-so, where we headed?"

"Do you like Italian?"

He hadn't expected that.

He made a face, furrowing his brow and pursing his lips. "In Hawaii?"

"What? You don't think Hawaiians make good Italian food? 'Cause if you want a fight…" She put a fist up and shook it, narrowing her eyes, and he raised both hands in defense.

"Nope. No fights here." He chuckled. "Italian food is great. I was just expecting you to go full native and take me to a luau with pigs roasting in holes in the ground and stuff."

And even that wasn't entirely true. He hadn't known where she would take him. In fact, he'd nearly had a panic attack getting dressed while trying to guess where she'd take him…and a luau with a pig roasted in a hole in the ground hadn't even crossed his mind.

She laughed. "Well I'm not a native, so that would be a little disingenuous of me." She shrugged a shoulder and smiled at him. "What I mean is, I have only been here since January. Just about eight months."

"Really? You seem like the sort of person who's been raised here. I don't know, you fit in well with the whole…vacation wonderland…thing."

"I do?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Gorgeous scenery. You know? You blend in. I mean, you don't blend—I'm not sure you'd blend in anywhere. You'd probably stand out just about anywhere. I'm basically trying to say you're really pretty and I'm not doing a great job of it, so I'm just gonna say that. You're really pretty."

Not that it had anything to do with their conversation. I'm an idiot.

She grinned and bit her lip, her gaze flicking over to meet his for a moment, before she concentrated on driving again. "Thank you, Chuck."

"You're welcome. And I mean, you're a scuba instructor, soooo…" He paused, searching for words that didn't offend her. She seemed to be just as intrigued about what he might say as she waited. "It's such a Hawaii sort of career choice. Which isn't to say—that's not a bad thing. It's so awesome. I wish I had the guts to just throw everything away and say 'I'm gonna do this thing I love the way I want to and screw the rest', you know? I'm digging myself into a hole here. I sound like an ignorant-ass mainlander." He buried his head in his hands and felt her put her hand on his shoulder as she laughed.

"Stop being so critical of yourself," she said, squeezing his shoulder. "You're not the worst ignorant-ass mainlander I've ever met."

He gave her a flat look, but her wrinkled nose and vibrant grin was too much for him to resist and he chuckled, his glare shattering almost immediately.

She laughed again and squeezed his shoulder once more before putting her hand back on the wheel and turning onto a narrow road. "In all seriousness, Chuck, what you said is true. I did just drop everything to come here. I was sick of my life the way it was, so I made a change. It was completely bonkers and everyone I knew thought I was ass-backwards but…it worked out. I make a living."

"Well, you're really good at this. At scuba…instructing."

Sarah laughed and pulled into a parking spot outside of a romantic building that looked to have been built specifically for the restaurant. It looked like a two-story winery, made of stone, with ivy climbing up the sides.

"Wow," he drawled, getting out of the car and staring up at the restaurant as he shut his door.

But then his date rounded her car and stood in front of him, a black clutch in her hands, and Chuck lowered his eyes to gaze at something much more stunning than the stone building.

He caught her running her own gaze down his body to his leather shoes and back up to the top of his head again, and he decided not to read too much into it. Until she gnawed on the inside of her cheek a little and raised an eyebrow. "I didn't quite realize how tall you actually are. I mean before…on the boat."

Chuck shrugged and ran his hands a little self-consciously down his black blazer, then smoothed his grey tie that matched his pants. "Uh, that's probably because I was being a giant wuss on the boat. Thus causing me to seem a little…shorter."

She shook her head and let out an amused huff through her nose, rolling her eyes. "I'd say it has more to do with the fact that your outfit kinda…stretches you out a little." She stepped in closer and turned to face the building along with him, tucking her hand in the crook of his arm and leading him towards the entrance. "I'm also in pretty major heels right now and you're still a good bit taller than me."

There was no way for him to keep from blushing, because he could tell by her voice and the way she was looking at him that she liked how tall he was.

He just grinned wildly down at his feet and focused on walking through the gravel to the small path that led up to the courtyard where the entrance into the restaurant was.

It turned out that Sarah had gotten them a reservation, and they were sitting outside on the patio with a fire pit in the middle of the tables, each with an ornate candle lit in the center atop maroon tablecloths.

The waiter was quick to take their drink and dinner orders, and disappeared to leave Chuck and Sarah alone with their basket of fluffy, warm bread and olive oil and balsamic to dip it in.

The conversation was light, and Chuck found himself entranced by her beauty as the candlelight danced on her features. That plus the glittering lights hanging around the patio…

He was mesmerized.

Everything about her face was soft, and yet her eyes were piercing and intelligent, her mouth expressive, quick to widen into a grin as she listened to him talk about Ellie, Devon and Morgan.

"Wait, wait. So…let me get this straight. You call him Captain Awesome…why?"

"Well, he's…awesome. First of all, he's a heart surgeon, which is…" He let a long whistle through pursed lips. "I mean, that in and of itself is pretty awesome. But then he still finds time to be really good to my sister. And to me. On top of all of the crazy adventures he goes on. He's jumped out of planes and off of cliffs, he's rafted down dangerous rapids, swam with sharks, he played on his college football team and did some major NCAA title stuff. The guy even flosses, so…"

Her laughter rang through the night as she rocked against the chair back and shook her head. "You're funny. Anybody ever tell you that?"

"Yeah, funny-lookin'." He gave her a goofy smile and earned a quieter giggle.

"Not what I meant," she said, pointing and raising an eyebrow.

He merely smiled some more and sipped his wine.

She smiled back and stared at him for a few seconds, before she broke his gaze and lifted her shoulders. "So, at the risk of falling into the first date small talk trap…"

"Is that a thing? I'm asking seriously, because I'm not an expert at first dates. Or…dating in general."

"Uhhhh, me neither. So maybe we'll push that bit to the side for now—"

"Yeeaaah…"

"—And I'll just go ahead and ask." He chuckled as she continued, looking just a tad shy. "What do you do, Chuck?"

"Oh. Uh, like career-wise?"

"Exactly. You know what I do. For now."

"For now?" he asked, genuinely interested in the tentative sound of her voice.

"Uhh, I asked you first."

Chuck held up his hands, smirking. "You're right. Sorry. I have an interrupting problem. Sorry, sorry." And then he cleared his throat and put his elbows on the table, unconsciously leaning closer. "I'm actually in the process of building up my own business."

"An entrepreneur, huh? Impressive."

"I like to take risks here and there…unless there's ocean involved."

"So what made you take the ocean-involved risk earlier today?" she asked, taking a sip of the red wine they'd ordered.

He thought for a second. "Maybe I thought there were worse ways to die than dying with a beautiful woman in an underwater cave." He stopped and looked down at puddle of oil and vinegar on the plate in front of him, wishing he wasn't such a screw-up. "That sounded a lot more charming in my head and I honestly do not know why."

Sarah giggled, propping her chin on her palm, her elbow on the table. "I thought it was kinda charming, if a bit dark."

"Sort of dark, yeeeah." He laughed at himself quietly and shook his head.

Just then the food arrived. They thanked the waiter and he was gone in an instant, leaving them alone again.

"So what kind of business is it that you run?"

"Technology. You know, like, computers, laptops, tablets, smart phones. Stuff like that. We make applications and video games and that sort of thing." He shrugged. "It's taken five years, but it's actually starting to produce. I mean, like, money wise."

"Well, it must be. The hotel you're staying in isn't exactly cheap."

He blushed, still not quite used to the whole having money thing. He didn't know if he ever would be, if this enterprise even lasted that long.

"I'm sorry." Now she was blushing, diverting her eyes. "That's super rude of me. The whole money thing is probably not something you bring up on a first date. Sort of personal."

"No, no. It's not—You're fine. Really. It's just not something I've…uh…" He waved his fork around, trying to figure out what he wanted to say. "Having money is still weird for me. Staying in a place like that is weird for me. Wearing nice clothes that fit my overly tall body. Being able to afford to eat at places like this. Actually buying the food at Farmer's Markets instead of just going through and eating all the samples. Having to be civilized." She had started laughing halfway through, and she snorted at the end, making him beam happily. It was just so cute.

"So you really did this whole thing on your own, huh? Building the business from scratch, actually being successful…" Chuck nodded, then shrugged, not wanting to come off as immodest. "And you say your sister's boyfriend is awesome."

There was nothing he could really say to that, so instead he just smiled a little crookedly at her, grateful to her for the compliment. "So back to the whole 'for now' thing, though. Are you thinking of not being a scuba instructor?"

"Not forever," she said with a shrug. "I want to get to the mainland again someday. Do something different. Living on an island gets old." She sighed, twirling her fork in her pasta, not looking at him. "I'm not very good at the whole doing one thing for the rest of your life trend. You know, most people go to college for one thing, they get a job, and then they stay doing that until they retire at seventy-something. Like what you're doing. And don't get me wrong, there isn't anything bad about that. It's good to have security. It just doesn't…work for me. So far. Maybe I'll change."

Chuck nodded understandingly.

"Well, what'd you go to college for?" he asked.

She gnawed on her lip a little and raised both eyebrows. "I didn't."

"Oh."

"I know. Everybody goes to college, right?"

"No, no. It isn't for everybody. To do what I'm doing right now, I mean…I needed college. For purely it's-who-you-know purposes. Without my professors' connections, I wouldn't have gotten a single damn thing done with this business. That's for sure."

She smiled, and he watched her features for any trace of self-consciousness. Not that he thought she should be self-conscious about not going to college. Or that she should feel cowed by the fact that he had gone to college. And when he saw just the smallest twinge in her eyes as she put a fork full of spaghetti in her mouth, he strove to do his best to quash it.

"I mean, college is so expensive. They ask you to sign away your soul, practically. And the debts and crap. Sometimes I wonder if it's better for people to just bypass it altogether. You know? Get a job and be debt free instead of starting your life fifty-thousand bucks in the hole."

Sarah wore a particular smile on her face as she gave him a long look. And then she shook her head. "Chuck, you're sweet. But you don't have to say that." When he furrowed his brow in confusion, she continued. "I mean the way you're trying to make me not feel bad about not going to college. You're sweet. But it is what it is. I couldn't afford it and there was nowhere for me to get help with it, so I just left home after high school and got a job."

He felt a little embarrassed that she'd caught him, and cleared his throat, pushing his free hand through his hair that had gotten a little mussed in the convertible he realized. Crap. "So you're a nomad of sorts."

"I guess. I'll probably settle at some point."

Chuck just smiled at the adventuress in front of him, wanting badly for the night to go on forever, if only because he didn't want to ever be anywhere she wasn't. If he could just stay here, in this night, with that moon above them, and the candle between them.

In that moment, as he watched her dab at her lips with her cloth napkin, he thought he might legitimately sell his soul to stay here with her.

**\--------------------------**

"What is it, though?"

"It's probably a fish."

"Out of water? Awww no!" He rushed away from her side and knelt down to look at the little mangled fish that looked to have been picked at by the birds already. "Okay, yeah, it's dead."

"Are you sure?" She was kneeling on the other side of it then, and suddenly she had it by the tail and was swinging it towards him.

He yelped and staggered back, kicking up the wet, packed sand as he narrowly avoided being hit by the dead fish she tossed at him. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he laughed in disbelief. "Throwing dead fish at me now? Is the date that bad? Jesus!"

Sarah was absolutely tickled, bent forward with laughter, her face lit in glee, her mouth wide and toothy.

"You're crazy." He paused, still laughing a little. "Um, and also…kiiiind of dirty."

There was a glint in her eye then and he realized how that sounded. "Did you just call me dirty?"

"No." His eyes darted back and forth. "What you did was dirty. I mean, that fish…that fish was dirty. Filthy. Very unsanitary."

She merely giggled and walked up to the water, kneeling down to let it flow over her hands as she scrubbed them. "There. Better?"

"Probably. Do you have sanitary wipes in your glove compartment?"

That earned another laugh and she straightened up, shaking her hands to dry them.

They continued strolling along the water again after a few seconds, Chuck with his pants folded up to just below his knees. They'd left their shoes and, in Chuck's case, socks in the car that was parked at the beach entrance.

"So is this like…one of those beaches that only people who live here know about? Like, the secret places Hawaiians go to surf where there aren't a billion tourists in the way?"

She looked at him thoughtfully. "You've seen a lot of movies about Hawaii, huh?"

He blushed and she wrapped her hands around his arm. "Wait, no," she chuckled. "I didn't mean for that to sound so patronizing. I was just teasing you. When I first got here, I thought things would be just like they were in those silly made for tv Disney movies. Honestly, if you go to the beaches at the right time, the tourists aren't a problem. And I make a living off of tourists, so I have no beef with you people."

"Well, you also got a free dinner out of this particular tourist, soooo…" he teased.

"That is true. Which I wasn't actually serious about earlier today when you first asked me to dinner. So you really didn't have to do that. I appreciate it, but you didn't have to."

"Naaah, I wanted to. I asked you out, remember?"

She gave him a long look that made his toes curl. "Oh, I remember."

Chuck let out a heavy breath and swallowed, looking down at his feet as he kicked a bit of sand. "However, I will let you buy me ice cream."

Sarah giggled and reared to the side a little, looking at him with a grin. "You really want some ice cream?"

"I mean, I'm not saying I need it, but I could really go for some. Not gonna lie."

She smirked. "I can find some for you."

"Oh? Really? You can scrounge somethin' up?"

"A little somethin' somethin'." She pursed her lips and shrugged smugly, and this time he was the one to giggle.

He was overwhelmed by her charm. She was funny, in spite of swearing over dinner that she wasn't. And she was smart, in spite of insinuating that she wasn't after the whole no college conversation. That was utter bullshit, and he'd told her as much without using those words.

They eventually got back to the car and she drove them further inland to a little corner shop that sold ice cream and chocolate covered fruits.

And as they found a nice bench that overlooked the Pacific Ocean, Chuck promptly got chocolate brownie fudge surprise on his tie.

"Awww come on!"

She laughed at him and set her cup of rocky road to the side. "Stay there. I'll be right back."

Chuck rolled his eyes at himself and watched her as she made her way back into the nearby shop. In less than a minute, she emerged again with a pile of napkins, smirking at him as she sat next to him again.

"See, this is exactly why I always get a cup."

"But then you miss out on the cone," he said, holding his double scoop ice cream cone out to the side so that she could wipe at his tie with the damp napkin in her hand. He could smell her when she was this close…a tinge of campfire from the fire at the restaurant, and sea water from their jaunt along the shore, and something else. Something calming. Like vanilla. And she was just as flawless up close as she'd seemed all day from a bit further away.

"You know how they say nobody's perfect?"

Her eyes flicked up from his tie and she smiled in amusement. "Chuck, your tie'll be just fine. I promise."

"I don't care about my tie," he said quietly, shaking his head, feeling a little breathless. He could feel the tug of the tie as she pulled it towards her, still rubbing at the spot with the napkin. The backs of her fingers kept brushing against his chest, too, and it sent warmth spilling through him.

She gave him a look he couldn't read, her fingers not moving but still holding onto his tie.

"They say nobody's perfect, Sarah, but I honestly think you're the closest anybody's ever gotten to it."

Maybe he shouldn't have said it. But it had just spilled out of him. Like a dam had been opened.

She just kept staring at him, her eyebrows tilting up, her mouth parting. And then there was a hint of a smile on her lips, just a twitch, her eyes bright. "Are you always like this?" she asked, a line appearing between her brows.

"Like what?" he asked, still a little breathless. She was just so close.

Her smile was slow, and then she shook her head, seemingly in awe. "You're kinda wonderful, Chuck, do you know that?"

He didn't have a chance to react.

Because she gave his tie a little tug and leaned up to kiss him. His body went into shock even as he kissed her back, and he ignored the ice cream beginning to drip over his fingers. She finally pulled back, just an inch.

It took him a moment, but his eyelids finally fluttered open, his lips still a little pursed, and she looked him right in the eye, smiling softly.

"You were just begging to be kissed," she explained, her voice cracking in amusement, even as her face was so soft and open.

"I mean, I—I wouldn't've said no if you'd asked," he said in a near whisper.

A giggle bubbled out of her and she leaned in to kiss his cheek this time. He grinned, and then glanced over at his hand which was now dripping with chocolate ice cream. He turned back to Sarah, still grinning like an idiot, and then he did a double take and groaned at his hand. "Seriously? What is wrong with me?"

She laughed and thrusted the rest of the napkins at him, watching happily as he attempted to eat his ice cream and wipe his hand at the same time.

**\------------------------**

The car ride back to the hotel was mostly silent.

They had stayed out well past midnight, doing nothing in particular. Most of the night was spent driving places, getting out and looking around, drinking something, eating something, then going to another place.

She didn't kiss him again in spite of looking like she wanted to a few times. And maybe, Chuck thought, he should've taken the initiative and leaned in to do it himself, but…he hadn't.

She'd called him kinda wonderful, which should've made him relatively sure that she would welcome it.

And yet…

Sarah the scuba instructor was just…she was perfect. Screw what he'd said before about her being the closest person to it. She was perfect. And he simply was not.

Chuck Bartowski had never been the type of guy to cut himself down at every turn. He never liked to sit around and mope about the lack of women in his life, or the fact that he didn't go on dates and when he did, he rarely went on second ones. He didn't have the time for dating in the first place. But he also strove not to take it personally when the few dates he'd gone on hadn't gone onto a second or third.

He liked to think he knew his value. And sure, maybe he underestimated himself here and there, just like anyone did.

But he wasn't being overly modest when it came to Sarah. He knew he wasn't. Because she was special. She was on a completely different level of special. She was still a mystery to him. There was so much left for him to know about her, and he had no idea if he'd get to learn anything more about her.

The truth was that he wouldn't be here forever. And even if he did stay forever, she wouldn't. She had said it herself, she didn't like staying in one place, doing one thing. He didn't even know if he would see her again tomorrow, or if this was a one time thing.

He didn't know if she was just indulging him when she said yes, but he also felt like that had changed by the time they'd finished dinner.

There was something between them.

But that didn't mean things had to a lot of ways, it'd be foolish to continue. Especially when there was an end in sight. It'd be worse if things progressed past this one date.

And he wondered why he didn't care. Was he a glutton for punishment? Or was it simply that he really really liked this girl? Was he crazy for wanting to spend as much time with her as he possibly could?

No, he decided, as he watched her face lit up intermittently by the streetlights they drove past. Because she was worth it, any amount of time he got to spend with her was worth whatever happened after.

Maybe she wasn't perfect. Maybe she just came off that way at first because she was beautiful and fun and smart and clever, and she actually laughed when he made jokes, and her smile was powerful—staggeringly so. Maybe at second glance, when he found out more about her, he'd realize there were flaws. But he wanted to know those flaws. He thought maybe he'd get to like them as much as he liked her merits.

It was then that she reached up to push some of her hair behind her ear, glancing at him quickly and then turning to face forward again. "How long are you here for, Chuck?"

"Three more weeks."

She turned to look at him, her eyes wide. "Wow, that's…quite the vacation."

"I know. When I got here, I started thinking maybe four weeks was too much." He chuckled. "But I'm here. And I mean to make the most of it, because I don't know when I'm gonna get another vacation like this." He let out a breath and shook his head.

"Yeah, I get that." She was nibbling on her lip as she neared his hotel.

Suddenly Chuck felt desperation tugging at him.

This couldn't be it. He couldn't let her pull around into the driveway, only for him to thank her for everything, get out of the car, watch her drive off and never see her again. This couldn't happen. He couldn't let it happen.

And he didn't know what to do.

But, per usual, his mouth did the decision making for him, his heart beating a mile a minute as he turned to face her as much as the seatbelt would allow. "Sarah?"

"Hm?" She looked at him a little strangely, probably because he looked like a madman.

"Do you want to come up?" She gaped at him. And he barreled on anyways. "To my suite, I mean. You wanna come up to my suite?" And then he thought maybe he should give her something else. "There's a full bar. On the roof. Well, sort of on the roof. The bar is on the top floor and you can go to the roof. I think. It might've been that I snuck up there and wasn't supposed to."

His lame shrug made her laugh, but she still looked on the fence.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to be too pushy or anything. I just…I can't leave it like this. I've just been on the best date of my life and I can't let you drive away…Well, like I said earlier today, I just want a little more time. …Still."

And he thought maybe he'd always want a little more time. No matter how much time she gave him.

She had her bottom lip clamped between her teeth, but when she pulled into the hotel's driveway, she bypassed the roundabout in front of the lobby and guided the car around to the parking lot in the back. "I'm assuming there's an entrance into the hotel back here?" she asked.

"So…that's a yes?"

She let out a one syllable giggle, rolled her eyes, and reached over to pat his head fondly.

**\------------------------------**

Chuck watched as Sarah stood on the balcony of his suite, the seventh floor breeze whipping at the hem of her dress and sweeping it over her thighs as she leaned against the railing and stared out at the sea. "This view is ridiculous."

"Well worth the hole in my pocket," he said, moving out of the sliding doors and leaning against the railing next to her.

"I'd say so."

He slouched down to rest his chin on his forearm and rolled his head to the side to look up at her. "Where else have you lived? Besides here?"

She smiled softly then arched an eyebrow, looking down at him. "Uhhh, in order?"

"Sure, why not?"

"I grew up all over the place. I, um…traveled a lot. With my dad. For his work." There was something in her face then, and the way she tucked her hair behind her ear a little haltingly. He didn't dare assume that he already knew this woman's cues when he'd only met her less than twelve hours earlier, but he wondered if maybe her dad was a sore spot. Maybe the fact that she had to travel a lot for his job made her childhood lonely.

He hadn't been lonely per se, with his mom walking out when he was nine and his dad disappearing for work all the time, because he'd always had Ellie. And they'd always stayed in one place, which meant he'd had friends, like Morgan and others.

"Um, after high school, I decided to go away. And I ended up in Florida for awhile. Miami. After Miami, there was New York. Then Paris." He popped his eyebrows at that. "Stockholm for a little while. Texas. Toronto. Boston. Back to NYC. A short stint in Buenos Aires to be an art student which…did not last long. I am…not an artist. Let's just leave it at that." She puffed out her cheeks and widened her eyes, making him chuckle. "And then to D.C. I was in D.C. for awhile, actually. Um, two years or so. I was a bartender in this super swanky hotel. I, um…needed a change. A big one. So I hopped on a plane to Hawaii. And here I am."

"Jesus Christ, with a passport like yours, you should be eighty five years old."

She laughed and shrugged. "You're probably right."

He caught a bit of self-doubt in the way she lowered her gaze.

"No, no. I didn't mean that in a bad way." He stood up straight and rested his hand on top of hers, squeezing gently. "I envy you. Really, I do. This is honestly the only vacation I can remember. Besides that trip to Seattle I told you about. That sort of…made me never want to leave LA ever again."

Sarah sidled closer and rubbed his arm slowly. "I don't blame you."

"And I mean, it wasn't just that," he said, waving his hand. "After I graduated from college, I let myself get lost in starting BarTech and I just didn't have…time to take a vacation. I don't really even know if I wanted to. I probably needed to." He chuckled, shrugging. "But I just didn't. And so I envy you. You've seen the world like I probably never will, even if I live to be a hundred."

She smiled brightly. "That can change. You took this vacation, didn't you? You can always plan more."

"Depends on how this one goes."

Her smile was a little muted as she twisted her mouth to the side and raised an eyebrow. "And how is it…so far?"

He wrinkled his nose teasingly. "Ehhhhh."

Sarah obviously wasn't expecting that, because she rocked forward in laughter.

"No. Honestly," he said, pleased that he could make her laugh again. "It's off to a roaring start. Roaring in a good way. Why do they—Who invented that phrase? It's really stupid if you think about it. A roaring start? Like who starts stuff roaring? Besides a lion, mayb—"

He didn't get any further.

Because Sarah's hands cupped his face, and she pulled him towards her, moving up onto her tip toes to kiss him. Her lips were more insistent this time, and he was infinitely glad that he wasn't holding ice cream. Because that meant he could round her torso with his arm as he gently cupped her face in his other hand.

Chuck pulled Sarah closer, their fronts pressed together, and he nearly groaned when he felt one of her hands slide down from his jaw to grab his tie and twist it in her fist.

It was when he felt her lips try to nudge his mouth open, immediately meeting his tongue with hers as he complied, that Chuck decided to move things off of the balcony.

They hobbled back inside and he distractedly slid the door shut, neglecting the lock when he blindly slapped at it multiple times without finding it. She was just so good at kissing and he didn't give a damn about locking a balcony door that was seven flights up.

Jason Bourne could climb onto his balcony if he damn well pleased.

Sarah dragged her other hand down between their bodies and popped the button of his blazer open, sliding it off of his shoulders and catching it behind his back as it fell off of his wrists. She pulled away from the kiss to drape it over the back of the nearby lounge, then glanced over her shoulder towards the double doors that led to the bedroom.

She'd meant for him to see the longing in her face, he knew, because she bit her lip when she turned back and met his gaze in a way that was unmistakable. The way she started unbuttoning his shirt and loosening his tie was even more unmistakable.

But he moved in to kiss her again, not minding when her hands were smashed between their bodies and unable to continue undressing him. He just wanted to feel her lips against his. He wanted her to do the tongue thing again and oh, there it was.

He let the groan rise from deep within his chest, his eyelids fluttering as she ran her tongue over his, and then he heard her giggle into the kiss. She suddenly became a few inches shorter and he had to lean down a bit more to keep his mouth melded to hers. Confused, he blinked his eyes open and looked down, still kissing her. Oh. She'd taken her heels off and kicked them away. That made sense.

When she finally managed to get the last button, even with the way he held their bodies so close, she quickly pushed his shirt off of him just as she had the blazer. This time, however, they both forgot about the shirt the moment it left his body.

The tie quickly followed.

And then she was clinging to his bare torso, her hands dragging up his back, and she buried her fingers in his muscle there. He felt her fingernails dig a little, and he grinned into the kiss, attempting to feel his way up over her hip, waist, under her arm, and around to her back to figure out how to get the dress off of her.

She pulled away and giggled breathlessly. "Button. At the top." She reached down and grabbed his hand. And then she moved it to her breast.

Chuck swallowed thickly. "Wait, the button's here?"

That lovely giggle bubbled up again. "No. It's at the back. I just wanted you to…feel…"

"Oh. Oh it's—it's really nice. I mean, I like it." She laughed a little at him and shook her head, but he could see she was charmed. It gave him the confidence to be a little goofy. "Sooo…we're not gonna go to the bar on the roof?"

She took his other hand and slid it around to her back until his fingers rubbed over the button. And then she leaned back, trusting him to keep her from tipping backwards. With an arched brow and a pursed mouth, she gave him a clipped, "No."

He flicked the button at the back of her dress open and she immediately stepped back, taking his hand from her breast and walking backwards towards the doors that led to his bedroom.

Chuck swallowed tightly and followed, letting her lead him oh so slowly, watching behind her to make sure she didn't bump anything. But he needn't have worried, because she reached the double doors without incident, pushing them open with her free hand.

Closing in on her again, the desire to touch this woman overtaking any sense of logic that told him they still hadn't even gotten into the bedroom yet, much less closer to the bed, Chuck wrapped her in his arms and tugged her against him, kissing her with as much passion as he could muster.

She still smelled like that intoxicating mixture of campfire, ocean, and vanilla, and she tasted so sweet. And then he realized that he'd only tasted her lips, which was a damn travesty, so he sought to rectify that, dragging his own lips down to her jaw, and even further to graze the spot just below her ear.

The whimper she emitted into his temple set a fire to him like nothing in his life ever had. He kissed her there again, just to hear that sound once more, and she didn't disappoint him. He fisted the material of her sundress, feeling its softness between his fingers. But he wanted to feel her.

With a strength that belied his gangly figure, he slid his hands down to her waist and hoisted her up against him, forcing her to wrap her legs around his hips and cling to his shoulders. She pulled back and gave him a heated look, gaping and grinning all at once as she let out a breathy giggle.

He walked her all the way to his bed, pushing the complimentary pillow chocolate out of the way and grabbing the duvet and sheets in his fist. With one clean yank, he had everything at the foot of the bed, and he finally set her down, distracted by the way she kissed along his temple, into his hair, and hunched over to pull his earlobe between her lips and suck on it teasingly.

With a soft chuckle, he pulled back and dove in to kiss her neck, dragging his lips down her collarbone and licking down the neckline of the dress he'd been so careful not to stare at just a few hours earlier.

And now here he was, gently tucking his fingers into the thin straps at her shoulders and pulling them down her arms…peeling her out of her dress oh so slowly. His lips covered the expanse of skin revealed as he inched the dress down lower and lower, spending time worshipping the swell of one of her breasts over the cup of the strapless bra she wore.

She sighed, tangling her fingers in his hair, and then she reached back and unclasped the bra, letting it fall away as he pulled back and stared. "Ohhh wow. Just wow."

He swallowed loudly and she giggled. That sound was glorious, but it also did glorious things to the breasts she'd just revealed to him. And then he had her in his mouth as he gently lowered her onto the mattress, hovering over her and humming against her breast as he reached up to massage the other one.

Sarah's head fell back with a breathy whimper.

Chuck was so distracted by the sound that he didn't even feel her move until her fingers began grappling with his belt. His hips thrusted into her hands of their own volition and he gasped, leaning on his elbows on either side of her and looking down between their bodies to watch as she unbuckled his belt and began undoing his pants. The sound of the zipper was what had him diving back in to kiss between her breasts, sliding down her body and pulling the dress all the way off of her, leaving her in nothing but her underwear.

It wasn't long before they were wrapped up together without a shred of clothing between them, skin on skin, hands grappling, nails digging, their limbs tangled as they moved together. Chuck lost himself in the sensations, listening intently to her gasps of pleasure, her sighs, and her whimpered encouragements.

He didn't think about the past or the future. He buried himself in the present. He buried himself in this woman who had changed his life, and he refused to waste this moment. He took advantage of every last chance he had to make her feel. And he put his all into pleasuring her.

He gave everything he had in him to this woman who was quickly becoming the best thing that had ever happened in his entire life.


	3. Chapter 3

Chuck moved fast, reaching up to catch her as she teetered to the side, swallowing her breathless laugh in a heated kiss as he turned to ease her gently down onto the mattress beside him.

He pulled back just a tad, pecking her cheek first, then her chin, and finally kissing her lips again before he folded his arm under his head and rested on his side, watching her.

Sarah hummed and turned onto her back, her arm flopping over the side of the bed as she grinned at the ceiling. She sucked a long breath in through pursed lips and let it out again slowly.

Silence stretched on for a few minutes, and Chuck let his eyes drift shut.

He couldn't decide if he should speak or not and perhaps interrupt the silence, break the spell that had come over them. He pushed himself up to glance over his shoulder at the clock on the nightstand and raised his eyebrows. It was after 2:30 in the morning.

"What time is it?" he heard her ask and he turned back to prop himself up a little and peer down at her.

"It is precisely 2:36 in the AM."

Her eyes bugged out and she just stared, her jaw slack. "You're kidding."

"Nope. It's 2:36." He glanced over his shoulder again. "Well, 2:37 now. Technically."

Sarah puffed up her cheeks and then blew the air out. "Time flies when you're having fun?" she asked, a bit of shyness in her face as she crawled up to sit against the headboard and pulled the sheet to cover her chest for a bit of modesty.

He chuckled with a nod, moving to mimic her position against the headboard.

"I should probably get home."

His ribcage suddenly felt like it had collapsed, squeezing painfully. He covered his disappointment as best he could with a smile, because she had to leave at some point, didn't she? He knew this would happen sooner or later. He just didn't want it to happen yet.

"Right. Yeah. It is super late—or early, perhaps." She smiled a little and he knew she'd seen his disappointment. She looked like she was trying to find something to say. So he continued, letting her off the hook. "You've probably got a boat full of people to dazzle with majestic sea life in the morning, huh?"

She just smiled and paused, her body tensing for just a moment, before she pushed the sheet away and climbed up to her feet. Chuck did his best not to stare, but he could see her exemplary bare figure in his peripheral as he forced himself to look at his hands in his lap.

The nerd was still in complete awe that things had progressed the way they had. Not once, not twice, not even three times. He'd lost count, and he hadn't even cared that he'd lost count. He hadn't even known this woman for twenty four hours, but the air between them was magnetic, electric, and so so warm. More than that, it was comfortable. Mostly. Right now, a little less so. Right now he felt a little awkward. At a loss for what to do.

He got lost in his own head as she wandered the room, getting dressed slowly, as though she really didn't want to go, either. Or maybe he was just hoping that was the case. She was probably just tired. Not that she'd shown any trace of being tired the last few hours they'd spent tangled together on his bed.

People did this all the time, didn't they? People who had a better social life than he did.

They met someone, slept with that someone, and then moved on. One night stands, they were called. He'd never had one of those before. It wasn't his style. But then again, he'd never met anyone like Sarah Walker before. Maybe, for him, it just depended on the person.

It could be so easy. He'd say goodnight, let her walk out, and go to sleep. In the morning, he'd do something else touristy. Maybe he would go hang gliding. Or find a zip line through the jungle somewhere. Or just sit out by the pool with a fruity alcoholic beverage.

It could be so easy—but it wasn't. Because he wasn't like other people. He couldn't just have one date, sleep with her, and end it there. It felt…wrong was the only word he could think of. It was so impersonal and strange. After the great conversation they'd been having. He couldn't just leave it at really good sex and wave her off with a grin.

_Thanks for changing my life! Drive safe!_

He slowly climbed out from under the covers and swept his gaze around the room, peeking over the edge of the bed, until finally spotting a corner of his boxers poking out from the duvet that had ended up on the floor at some point. And the fact that he didn't even remember that happening…

He bent over, facing away from her, trying to hide his blush. Because it had been quite some time since he'd slept with anyone, and he wasn't sure he'd ever gone into it with this much gusto before. There was a lot of gusto involved. And as he slid his boxers up his legs and pulled a T-shirt from the suitcase he had yet to unpack onto his torso, his knuckles brushed against a bit of raised skin on his lower back. He furrowed his brow in confusion and moved his fingers to trace it. It stung a little, nothing too painful, and as he turned and glanced at Sarah, who was struggling a bit with the back of her dress, trying to get her hair out of the way so that she could fasten it shut, he realized she must have scratched him. He didn't remember that, either.

She stopped struggling and eyed him from under her eyelashes. "What?"

"Uh. Nothing." He pulled his hand back out from under his shirt and did his best not to blush again. He had to push his discovery completely out of his head, or he'd go batshit nuts. She _scratched_ him. He could think about it later. As long as he fended off the urge to saunter up behind her with a bit of pride in his gait. He did. Just barely.

He buttoned her dress for her and slid his hand along her upper back to curl around her shoulder. She'd shifted her hair in a way that left her neck open to him, and he wanted so badly to lean in and press his lips against her smooth, warm skin there.

Instead, he pulled his lips back between his teeth and gave her shoulder a quick, tender squeeze.

He might've been imagining it, but he thought he saw goosebumps rise on her arms.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

She wordlessly waited for him to pull jeans on, leaning against the wall next to the doors that led out to the main room. And as they walked out together, the ache in Chuck's chest was palpable.

He couldn't do this. He couldn't just let her leave yet. He would, because he knew she probably had a lot to do the next day. And he was leaving this paradise in a few weeks so it really was for the best. But…

Sarah stopped at the door and turned to face him. "Do I have you convinced that Hawaiians can do Italian?" she asked, tilting her head.

Chuck laughed and pinched his chin between two fingers, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully. "Yes. Absolutely." They smiled at one another as he dropped the act. "Though, I have yet to discover if Hawaiians can do Hawaiian."

She giggled. "Really? Well, that has to be next on your agenda."

His heart twisted a little. Had she missed his hint? Was he too obtuse? Or did she purposefully ignore it? Was it even a hint? Did he have a right to hint? God.

"Yeah." He ducked his head for a moment, stuffing his hands in his pockets and looking back up at her. "If you have any recommendations for me…" He didn't quite know how to finish that. So he didn't. Instead he just shook his head with a self-deprecating huff of amusement.

She just smiled, one shoulder lifting as she readjusted her purse and shifted her weight. And then she leaned in and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, hugging him close and turning her face into his neck.

"Thank you, Chuck," she breathed, giving him a squeeze.

His eyes slipped shut and he pressed his lips to her hair, hugging her back just as tightly. "Me?" He chuckled, and then loosened his grip as she pulled back. "I didn't do anything."

There was a mischievous sparkle in her blue eyes at that, and then she readjusted her purse strap again. "On the contrary, you did…quite a bit."

She said it in a way that left no question as to her meaning and he grinned wildly, ducking his head again and chuckling, pushing a hand through his hair shyly. "I, uh…don't actually know how to respond to that, so…I guess…you're welcome?"

Sarah grinned back with a soft laugh and shook her head. "Well," she finally said, moving to touch the door handle. Chuck's eyes followed the movement and he fidgeted a bit. _Please don't go_ , he wanted to say.

Nothing in the next few weeks would be better than meeting this woman. He knew it. And he couldn't just let her go.

But he did.

He let her set her hand on his cheek, lean up to kiss him. She smiled one last time and walked away. The door clicked shut behind her and he shut his eyes, letting out a long breath.

He let her go.

**}o{**

Would he make it in time?

He didn't know.

And he especially didn't know what was more foolish, the fact that it took him this long to run after her, or the fact that he was running after her in the first place.

He bypassed the elevator and immediately felt it in his legs, which were still a bit like jelly after everything they'd done for hours on end. He didn't care. He forced his long limbs to eat up the steps, skipping three, sometimes four at a time, until he hit the bottom floor and burst through the door into the hallway.

Chuck Bartowski felt like he was in a romantic comedy, stumbling into the wall opposite the door, bouncing off of it, and sprinting to the exit.

And as he staggered out into the night, he cast his eyes around the parking lot. Sarah was just about to slide into the driver's seat of her convertible. He'd made it. He was in time.

Chuck kept running anyways, catching her eye as she paused in a half-hunch, before straightening up to her full height again with a look of confusion on her face.

"Uh," he heard her say, blinking once.

He slowed down and stopped in front of her, taking a moment to hunch down, his hands on his knees, lifting his pointer finger in a wordless request for her to give him a moment.

And then he stood again and gave her a weak smile. "Hi. Sorry."

"Um."

She was so confused. He was so ridiculous.

"I'm sorry. I just…I was standing in my room up there and…" He was so out of breath. He cursed softly and took a deep, slow breath through his nose, letting it out through pursed lips. "A lot of stairs."

"There's an elevator."

"I didn't want my fate in the hands of a metal box operated by electricity and a series of pulley systems. Like, what if it broke down while I was in it or something?" he panted. She smiled in amusement and lifted her eyebrows expectantly. "That's not…important. So listen. I really don't want you to go just yet. I'm being really selfish and probably thoughtless, too, because you've probably got a lot going on tomorrow and you need some sleep. But I feel like…I've never had so much energy. Ignore the ridiculous panting from the running down the stairs thing. Ignore that."

She let out a bubbling laugh, shaking her head at him.

"Please stay. We can go up on the roof. That sounds super random, I know. I just mean because it's beautiful up there. Not the actual roof itself. The roof is kind of just…grey…and there. The scenery, I mean. It's breathtaking. Which, of course you know that, you live here, but I doubt you've ever seen it from that particular roof before. Also there are drinks at the bar on the top floor. Or we can get coffee. Coffee is great, too. Anything. Anything that means you don't leave. I just want…a little more time."

She didn't say anything, her eyes darting to the side as she shifted her weight.

"I'm sorry." He shook his head. "I know I keep doing this. First when I asked you to come up and now, asking you to stay the night. But you are an…extraordinary woman. And God, your eyes are unbelievable in this moonlight, are you _serious_ right now?" he asked no one in particular.

He hadn't really expected her to laugh. But then again, he hadn't expected his filter to shatter into five trillion pieces like this, either.

"I'm sorry," he said a bit lamely, clenching his eyes shut. "You probably have lessons tomorrow and I already kept you out until, like, three in the morning. And you have to be super alert out there, I'm sure. To keep people from drowning."

He opened his eyes to see her shake her head. "After seven twelve-hour days straight, I've got some time off," she said, raising her eyebrows and shrugging.

"Oh. Well, that's nice. You deserve it."

"Yeah."

"Yeah." He shrugged, a twitch of a smile on his lips. And then he paused."Okay, I'm gonna ask again, because I'm ridiculous. Stay. Please? I've got all of the food and drinks you want at my fingertips. Sorry, that sort of sounds like bribery. I'm not trying to bribe you. If you want to go home, that's okay. I totally get that. But please, either way, answer soon, because I have apparently lost complete control of my mouth—"

She quickly covered said mouth with her own, cupping his face between her hands tenderly, her lips moving so slowly over his. And when she pulled back, she was smiling. "I can take care of that for you. Your mouth, I mean."

"Oh, no. I passed the broken filter onto you."

Sarah pulled back and smacked his arm, laughing. "Shut up, you jerk! I thought I was being smooth, okay?" And he felt bad when she ducked her head and tucked her hair behind her ear. She seemed sincerely embarrassed, if only a bit.

"You were. You were super smooth. I'm just givin' ya a hard time." He reached out a hand of apology towards her. She slid her hand into his as he grinned. And then he sobered a bit and pressed his lips together. "Will you stay with me?" He paused. He was going to say something else, but he stopped himself. Just barely.

She didn't appear to think all that hard about it before she lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "Yeah. I'll stay."

His grin grew in stages over his face, and then dimmed just a bit. "Really?"

She actually met his eyes this time. "Yes. But only if you can sneak me onto that rooftop you talked about."

He clapped his hands together once, doing his best to keep it together instead of dancing up onto the hood of her car and back flipping off of it again. "Done."

"Good. Because otherwise I'm going home."

And her cheeky grin lit up the entire sky.

**}o{**

"Shhhh."

He put his finger to his lips and pressed his back against the wall at the corner, watching as Sarah covered her mouth to stop her adrenalized giggles. Her eyes went comically wide above her hand and he nearly giggled himself.

Instead he slowly curled around to peek down the hallway, before ducking back. "Coast is clear, Agent Walker. We can make our ascent."

She rolled her eyes at him as he took her hand and pulled her along after him, their steps hurried as they moved down the hallway, arriving at the door.

"You know, that's the part where you answer in the affirmative. Like a 10-4 or something," he whispered as he glanced both ways down the hallway and pushed the door open, pulling Sarah through first before following after. They let the door shut gently behind them.

"You just shushed me a second ago, and now you want a 10-4?"

"I would've settled for a silent hand gesture." She stuck her middle finger up and he frowned. "Not that one."

There was a short staircase with a dozen steps or so that led up to the roof, and he guided Sarah up in front of him as she giggled quietly. When they made it to the top, he glanced around to make sure no one else was there, and then he turned to find Sarah had wandered away from his side.

She stood at the railing, looking out at the Pacific that sprawled for miles and miles and miles, the moonlight dancing on the water in the distance. "Oh my God."

He sidled up next to her and gave her a crooked smile. "I know. Imagine how great it is with a bottle of chianti. Or, you know, anything really. I'm just a fan of chianti."

"Okay, Mr. Lecter."

"And fava beans." He sucked air in through his teeth just like Hannibal in Silence of the Lambs, causing her to laugh and swat at his arm.

"Eww! That's creepy. Stop it. Especially now that I'm alone with you up here. No one to hear me scream."

He chuckled and offered her the extra sweatshirt he'd snagged from his room on the way up to the roof. "Want it?"

Sarah's smile was quiet as she looked up at him, pausing for just a moment, before she nodded and turned her back to him. He helped her shrug it on and she wrapped it around her body, hugging it to her slim figure as she looked out at the Pacific again.

He chuckled suddenly, moving his arm to purposefully press up against hers as he stood beside her.

She turned to peer at him, her forehead wrinkled in curiosity. "What?"

"Nothin' really." He shook his head. "I was just thinking about how long it's been since I've been up this late for anything that didn't have to do with work. Probably college." Chuck tilted his head thoughtfully and nibbled on his lip. "Yep. College. And that was because I was studying for a final, most likely."

"Jesus." She lifted her eyebrows. "You really are a workaholic."

"I would never have gotten where I am if I hadn't worked so hard."

"I didn't mean that in a bad way." He shook his head at her to let her know he didn't think she did. "I think it's commendable that you've always known what you wanted to do and you worked hard. And now look at you. All your dreams are coming true."

Chuck didn't mean to scoff. It wasn't the most respectful or thoughtful response to what Sarah'd just said, and with that nice glint in her eye. And he was upset with himself for stifling that glint. He wanted to bring it back.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to do that. You're right. I worked hard to get here. But there's still a lot I wanna do. I mean, I-I can't take my foot off the pedal just yet. In no way is BarTech in the green. And, weirdly enough, this wasn't my dream really. Not always, at least. It is now, but when I was a kid, I—" He stopped and chuckled softly, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"What? You wanted to be a fireman?"

The glint was back. It made him smile hard.

"No," he laughed.

"An astronaut? A veterinarian?"

"No and no."

"Come on," she teased. "I can see you wanting to be an astronaut."

"I can't handle the ocean and you think I can handle space?" He laughed in disbelief, earning a laugh out of her. "Nooo, no. Nope. I did not want to be an astronaut. When I was _really_ little, I wanted to be a barber."

She giggled so hard that she rocked forward, a beautiful grin on her face, her eyes shining in mirth. "That's probably the cutest thing I've ever heard a grown man say. Why a _barber_?"

"The first haircut I ever got, I loved it. It was probably the best thing ever. I don't even remember how young I was. Probably only a couple of months old. This curly mop was wild even then," he said ruffling his own hair and wrinkling his nose, earning another giggle. "Ever since then, I liiiived for sitting in that chair."

"Wow. Usually kids are terrified of haircuts, aren't they?"

"I know!" he exclaimed with a shrug. "I guess I was always a weirdo."

"I think it's cute."

"Yeah, well…I didn't realize what being a barber meant until I was older. I started reaching for, um, other things once I did. But I just thought, _man_ , I get so much joy out of haircuts. It'd be great to be in a profession that meant making people as happy as I was when I sat in that chair." He chuckled and shook his head.

She simply looked at him for awhile, and he wondered what she was thinking, all wrapped up in his sweatshirt, the sleeves eating up her knuckles, her hair bunched up around her shoulders, her nose a little red from the cool breeze.

Sarah didn't offer any little tidbits about her childhood, and he found himself thinking about what her life must have been like before she cut herself away. He wanted to know more about her. But he hadn't even known her for a full day yet. He couldn't expect her to shell everything out for some guy she barely knew.

Silence settled between them for a few seconds and he could feel her eyes on him, even as she pretended to look out at the water. He liked it. Though the breeze ruffling his hair did nothing to stave off the heat rising up to his face.

"So," she finally said, her voice soft. "Barbering—barbing." He laughed. "That didn't pan out and you decided to go into tech. Then you built up this business of yours. From scratch. And now you've got the kind of money that allows you to take almost a month of vacation in Hawaii and stay in a swanky joint like this."

Chuck shrugged. It hadn't been easy. Some of it was pure luck, pristine timing, a number of things that had come together perfectly for him. But mostly he'd worked his ass off, locking himself away in his office and losing a few friends in the process.

"Here's what I've been wondering all night," she said, and he raised his eyebrows.

She paused, turning to face him, her front pressed against his bicep as she looked up into his face. Honestly, her eyes in the moonlight were astounding. They really were. He couldn't get over them.

"How in the world does a guy with your success—I know, I know, you're not done yet, you told me—but how do you still manage to be so sweet and genuine and…" She seemed to be at a loss for words.

"Nerdy?" he tried. She gave him a look. "Dweeby? Geeky? Goofy? Derpy?"

"Stop," she chuckled. "I'm serious. I've met plenty of people with money while doing what I do for a living. And a lot of them were perfectly nice and all, but you're…I don't know," she said with a smile, looking a little shy again. "You're different. And I don't get it."

He turned to face her and shrugged matter-of-factly. "At the end of the day, Sarah, I'm still I'm still Charlie from the block. I used to have a little now I have a lot."

"Oh God." She rolled her eyes and snorted, shaking her head. "I can't believe that just happened."

"Believe it. Couldn't pass up the opportunity."

"Of course you couldn't."

"No, seriously…" He chuckled and smiled at her. "I owe a lot of it to my sister, probably. She's kept me grounded through all of this. And she doesn't mind giving me a smack to the head if it gets too big." Sarah smiled in amusement. "Really, I can't explain it. Like I told you before, it's still a matter of…Well, it's all pretty new. Being poor is still super fresh in my mind. Having to skip breakfast and eating Ramen for lunch and dinner. Or washing laundry at my buddy Morgan's house when I was a kid because our machine broke and we couldn't afford to fix or replace it until Ellie racked up enough paychecks."

He was surprised to see understanding in her face instead of the usual pity or sympathy. It was more like…empathy. Like she knew exactly what he meant. Perhaps because she'd had it difficult, too? After all, she had listed more than a handful of places that she'd lived in after high school.

"Doesn't sound like you had it all that easy," she said quietly.

"It wasn't as difficult as it could've been," Chuck said with a shake of his head, thinking about how hard Ellie had worked to keep the worst of it from him. The extra effort she'd put into the holidays, the extra job she always seemed to have, how she'd scrounge up enough money to get them to Disneyland every couple of years, the way she taught him how to use the bus system in LA in case she couldn't get away to pick him up from school. He knew things had been much harder for Ellie. He didn't know it then, and he felt regret prick at his heart whenever he thought about it now. "I had what I needed most of the time. Or at least we were good at pretending. Almost as good as the real thing."

Her eyebrows bobbed and she smiled quietly, looking off into the water. "Pretending, huh?"

"Familiar with pretending?"

She lowered her gaze to her arms crossed at her chest and hugged herself tighter, getting lost in her own head for a moment it seemed like. He patiently waited for her to come back out, wondering again what she was thinking about. "A little," she finally said. "I'm sorry you had it hard, Chuck."

"Nah, don't be. Look at me now." He spread his arms out and grinned as she turned to look at him again. "I'm on the roof of a swanky Hawaiian hotel with a woman who's so beautiful it's legitimately staggering."

Her smile was soft, and then she gave him a particular look, one that made the cool Hawaiian night breeze _imperative_. "That right there? That's how you get yourself a second date."

"Is it?"

"Mmm. Oh, yes."

Right at that moment, Chuck Bartowski couldn't think of a comeback that wouldn't sound horribly corny. She had yet to be put off by his knack for sappy cheesiness. In fact, she'd almost seemed amused by it so far. But he stifled himself anyway.

"But this one isn't over yet, right?" he asked instead. "Now that you got the rooftop view, you're not buggin' out on me, are you? Because I'd feel mighty used if you did that to me, Scuba Sarah. Just so you know."

She laughed. "Scuba Sarah? Really?"

He shrugged and chuckled.

"I'm not bugging out on you, don't worry," she said, smiling. "What's next?"

He patted his pockets, felt the key in there, and nothing else. "I was gonna check the time, but it seems I left my phone in my room. And I took my watch off when we…" He turned red.

"My purse is in there, too," she said mercifully, having left it in there when they swung by earlier. "Guess we don't know what time it is."

"I'd rather not know what time it is, honestly. If I see how late—or early—it is, I might get tired. It's psychological."

"Ah. Yes. Good thinking."

"You wanna stay up here or saunter back out there?"

"Not sure how I feel about sauntering, honestly." Her face was perfectly serious and Chuck thought maybe he wouldn't last 'til morning with the way this woman played to his humor so perfectly. She was so perfect, he might just keel over from the intensity of it.

"Hm. What would you prefer instead?"

"Something sneakier than sauntering."

"Like sneaking?"

She sniffed a bubbly giggle through her nose. "That might work."

"Yeah."

He reached out to take her hand, the sleeve of his sweatshirt that she wore caught between their palms, but as he moved to walk her back to the stairs that would lead them inside, he found resistance from the scuba instructor.

Curious, he turned to glance back at her. She gave him a tug, forcing him to stagger towards her. She put her other hand on his cheek and caught him against her, tilting her chin up to kiss him.

He slid his free hand up underneath his sweatshirt, feeling the material of her dress crunch in his fingers, and he pulled her flush against his chest.

Chuck Bartowski had no concept of time as they stood on that rooftop, wrapped up in one another, kissing. And he didn't care. She didn't either, apparently, since it lasted for quite awhile.

And yet, as they finally pulled their lips apart, he felt it hadn't lasted long enough.

He finally blinked his eyes open, feeling her fingers slide down his cheek before her hand dropped to his chest.

They stared at one another for a moment, and then she smiled a little. "It just felt appropriate to do that up here. Romance and all that."

"Very appropriate." He paused. "But for the record, in my opinion, there's no such thing as an inappropriate time as far as you kissing me is concerned."

She giggled. "Oh my God, you're so cute."

He smiled brightly.

"What do ya say we get into some trouble?" she half-growled, and Chuck found himself considering the possibility of skipping the sneaking and exploration, and instead burying themselves in his bed again.

"What d'ya have in mind, Scuba Sarah?"

She rolled her eyes at the nickname, but he could tell she was at least a little amused by it. "You're the one who asked me to stay instead of going home, Bartowski. _You_ tell _me_."

"I'm new here. I don't know how to get into trouble."

That was when she got a glint in her eye that made him feel like maybe he might be able to stay awake for the rest of his vacation.

**}o{**

"Do they arrest people for having open containers in public here?"

Sarah flashed him a mischievous look and snorted. "You afraid we're gonna get in trouble, Curls?"

"Curls? Is that your revenge on me for calling you Scuba Sarah?"

She laughed quietly. "Probably. Unconsciously. You don't like it?"

Chuck shook his head and grinned dreamily. "Honestly, you can call me anything you want as long as you keep smiling at me like that."

The smile on her face twitched and she twisted her pursed lips to the side. They had nothing but the moonlight to guide their way, so he couldn't exactly see it, but he thought she might be blushing. "Keep doing you, Curls, and you'll be seeing it a lot."

This time he blushed.

"Shh shh…" She held a finger to her lips, and pushed aside a few flimsy branches, peeking into the courtyard. "Think the coast is clear. They closed up a few hours ago, probably."

"Dinner crowd is gone at 4:30 in the morning?"

She giggled. "Come on."

They stepped through and Chuck followed her to a nearby table.

Sarah brought him to a restaurant that was a twenty minute walk down the beach from his hotel, but tucked a bit more inland. A bottle of champagne and a bottle of bourbon, in case that was more to their taste by the time they trekked through the cold morning air to get to their destination, were both wedged in his backpack with a few sweatshirts in between to keep them from knocking into each other. His sense of adventure had given way to nerves halfway there, and he found himself fretting over whether or not they might be caught.

He'd never been much good at breaking the rules, not as a kid, and not even now as an adult. But Sarah had assuaged his fears. Or maybe she was just a bad influence—an adventurous spirit who didn't care about rules, or…you know…laws. He'd been in the passenger seat while she drove them to dinner, after all.

The restaurant's outside seating was surrounded by a clump of thick-trunked trees, but it had been easy enough to get through and step into the little Hawaiian wonderland.

There were about ten wooden tables with matching chairs, old-fashioned gas lamps in the middle of each table, and some stereotypically tropical-looking torches poking up around the edges of the space. Chuck spotted lights draped through the trees' lower branches, and he thought they probably added some romance to the atmosphere when they were on. A bit hodge-podgy, the different types of lighting not matching, but it was still charming.

She gestured to one of the tables. "Go ahead and sit. Gimme a second and I'll join you."

Chuck gave her a curious look, but moved to sit down, watching as she walked through the tables and slid behind a small wall made of bamboo just outside of the double doors that led into the restaurant.

She emerged again with a gas lighter.

Sarah leaned down when she got to the table and opened a glass pane of the lamp so that she had access. It took her a few moments to get the lamp turned on, and then she shut the glass again and smirked. "Still got it."

Chuck's curious frown deepened, but she seemed to ignore it, glancing over her shoulder.

"I wonder…" she muttered, probably to herself even though he heard it. "Hold on, let me see if…" Her voice faced and she put a hand on his shoulder as she walked past him, going around the corner of the restaurant building. About a minute later, the lights surrounding the area lit up in the trees and gave the whole area a magical feel.

His jaw fell open and he gaped at the twinkling white lights, a grin growing on his face. He heard Sarah's heels clicking behind him and he spun to watch her approach, still wearing his sweatshirt that she'd finally zipped up during their journey to the restaurant. Her dress poked out from underneath it and her long, bare legs ended in the same heels she'd shown up in hours earlier to pick him up for their date.

The lights did something to her face. Maybe it was the way they were glinting in her blue eyes, or the way they emphasized the gold in her gorgeous, disheveled blond locks. He didn't know what it was, but he was struck speechless by her.

"Now I think we're good," she said, smirking a little.

He leapt to his feet wordlessly and pulled the nearest chair out for her. She accepted his gesture with a grin and sat, and he had to bite his cheek to keep from smiling too wildly when he caught her scooting the chair closer to his.

They sat in the quietude of the night, letting the romance in the air settle, before Chuck belatedly remembered what he'd lugged all the way here. He reached down and grabbed his backpack, unzipping it and stalling with his hand inside. "Right, what do you want? The champagne? Or the bourbon?"

She made a show of thinking about it. "I think bourbon is more of a 4:30 in the morning kind of drink."

"Agreed."

"Champagne is post-dinner."

"Agreed agreed. Also it's a little cold."

"And you said you didn't need a jacket," she teased. "Want this one?" She held out her arm, goofily swiping at the air with the too-long sleeve.

"No. Absolutely not. You, in your little spaghetti strap dress."

"In my defense, I didn't think the date would last until after four in the morning."

The conversation paused for a moment while Chuck took the bourbon out of his backpack and worked at opening the bottle. As he heard the telltale click of the seal being broken, he set the bottle on the table in front of him, careful not to look at her while he spoke. "Would you rather be all tucked away in bed, sleeping?"

"No."

A little surprised by how immediate and matter-of-fact her answer was, he set wide eyes on her face, and was struck again by how uncommonly beautiful she was. "Me neither. For the record."

"The record thanks you."

Chuck laughed, then reached out for the bourbon, taking the cap off and taking a good whiff of it. "Want the first taste?"

"You bought it, you get the first taste."

He gave her a look, meaning to argue with her for a moment, but then he backed down and shrugged, bringing it to his lips and taking a swig. He lowered the bottle and let the hard burn singe his throat in the best way. He smacked his lips a little and hummed.

It had an almost coconut aftertaste to it, having used some sort of Hawaiian something or other to distill the bourbon whiskey. And it was damn smooth. He offered her the bottle and watched as she drank from it without pause.

She furrowed her brow and licked her lips, causing his eyes to lower to them. He'd tasted them enough now to know they were dangerous. And he wanted to taste them again now. Badly. But he forced himself to meet her eyes again. "That's a damn good bourbon."

"It is. I bought it for Awesome, so I'm glad it's good."

"What? I can't drink this. It's for your sister's boyfriend." She put it back on the table.

"I can easily buy another one. It was at the gift shop in the hotel." He shrugged.

"Oh. Well. Thanks."

He shrugged again and took another swig, watching as Sarah kicked her heels off and brought her legs up to tuck underneath the oversized sweatshirt, her toes curling over the edge of the seat.

"Hey, how'd you manage to know where the lighter was? And the switch to get these on?" he asked, tossing his thumb over his shoulder at the lights.

Sarah shrugged. "I used to waitress here. When I first moved onto the island. I didn't just hop into the scuba circuit, and I needed something to get me by. Then I discovered scuba diving. Once I got certified and got my job that I have now, I ditched this place."

"Oh. Was it bad?"

"Nah, not really." She smiled and sipped some bourbon. "Just like any waitressing job, it had its ups and downs. Ben liked me enough. He probably wouldn't even mind it if he knew I'd done this."

"Can we call Ben up and have him scramble us some eggs for an early breakfast?"

"Ummm I said he _probably_ wouldn't mind. Don't think we should chance it." She wrinkled her nose and it was insanely cute.

"You are so…" He searched for the right word in vain.

"What?" she prompted when he took too long.

"Adventure-y."

"Adventurous?" she corrected in a chuckle.

"Don't judge me. It's, like, five a.m."

She laughed. "I guess I am a little adventurous, yeah."

"A little? I've had more of an adventure with you in the last twenty four hours than I've had in my whole life up until now, Scuba Sarah." He grinned cheekily when she sent him a stop-that look.

"I'm not great at being stationary," she said quietly.

"Oh, I'm really good at it, yeeeah. It's probably one of the things I do best. I get into this routine and I never change anything. Creature of habit. I work, sleep, eat, work, sleep, eat, then do it all over again. Same work since I got out of college. Same place that I've been living in, even though I could probably afford something bigger and nicer. Same car. Yadda yadda yadda."

She smiled mutely.

"Do you think you'll ever settle?" he asked, not sure if he should've asked that question. Maybe it was too personal…

Sarah looked to be thinking about it though, nibbling on the inside of her bottom lip. "I don't know. I've never really been…settled. I don't know what it's like to have a permanent home, so I don't know if I'd like it. You know?"

"I getcha." He nodded slowly.

"You know, you're easy to talk to, Curls." She took another drink.

Chuck smiled and reached out to take the bottle from her. She offered it willingly and he took a few drinks himself, feeling warmer already. "I guess I am. But so are you." She flashed him a look of disbelief. "No, really! You are."

"Thanks…" There was that shyness again. And then he found his skin feeling a bit of a prickling heat where her eyes rested on the side of his face.

Chuck glanced out of the corner of his eye at her. "What? Do I have alcohol dribbling down to my chin or something?" He swiped at his mouth comically and earned a soft one syllable hum of a giggle.

"No. I guess I'm just wondering how in the hell you're single."

He wasn't prepared for that. And it definitely showed on his face.

"Sorry. That's probably a little personal. It just—It doesn't make sense. You're kind of like…the full package. And I hope you don't mind me being a little crass here, but there's the added bonus—you're really good in bed."

His jaw fell open and he blushed vibrantly, looking away with a chuckle.

"Sorry. Did I shock you?" She shifted to the side in her chair and reached over to drape her hand over his knee.

"Honestly? A little. But I don't mind it." He cleared his throat and set his hand over hers, curling his fingers through her cold ones and squeezing. "The thing is, well—I don't know. It's a lot of different factors. I don't really…date much. And it isn't really that I don't want to. I've tried to. There are just…a lot of uninterested girls. Can't fault 'em for it. I'm sort of a massive geek, so…"

"Maybe you are, but it's incredibly endearing."

"Well, you seem to think so. And I'm more than okay with that."

She giggled softly.

"I also work a lot. I don't know. I don't even know why I'm trying to come up with an explanation. I'm not gonna pretend I know anything about women. I really don't. Not that I'm not willing to learn."

"That's a good attitude," she said with a teasing grin. And he felt embarrassed suddenly.

"What about you?" he asked, trying to push the spotlight off of him. "You're absolutely the most gorgeous thing I've ever laid eyes on. Just beautiful. And you're smart, have a wicked sense of humor that I personally find extremely attractive, and you're an adventuress, which makes you fascinating. And even though my chest feels a little tight saying this out loud, you already did it, so what the hell…You're amaz—the sex is—the sex is amazing. You're really good at sex. My mouth stopped working. There was an actual moment where it seriously just, like, freaking switched off. Did you catch that?"

"Yeah, I did." And she seemed tickled to no end by it.

"Wow. Right. Can I just finish the rest of this bottle now? You can leave me here. The police will pick me up in a few hours. It'll be fine." He covered his face.

His hands were still folded over his face when he felt her drape her long legs over his and lower herself onto his lap. He pulled his hands away and looked down to see her perched on top of him, her legs swung to one side. Her fingers folded over his jaw, pulling his face to hers and kissing him.

This kiss had a lot more passion than the one on the roof did. Maybe it was the colder air or the fact that they'd both had some bourbon, but there was much more heat, much more tongue, and he nearly gasped as he heard her unzip the sweatshirt.

He pushed his arms under the sweatshirt and around her torso, pulling her closer as she wrapped the sweatshirt about his shoulders, at least as much as she could.

Chuck cradled her warmth even closer to him as she kissed him harder. Her hand dragged down his back, her fingers practically singeing his skin through the thin material of his shirt. And when the fingers of her other hand pushed into his hair at the back of his head, fisting his curls, he heard himself groan.

Sarah smiled against his lips and pulled back a little, kissing his chin, along his jaw, and gently nibbling at the spot just under his ear. His eyelids fluttered and he let out a soft breath.

He had no idea how much time passed, but it had to have been awhile. Because neither of them wanted to be the one to put a stop to it.

Eventually, however, he felt Sarah reach back and snag his hand, folding her fingers in his and lifting their entwined hands up. She pulled out of the kiss for just a moment, lazily tilting her head to look at the watch he'd put back on. And then her eyes got big. "Crap. It's almost six."

"Hmm?" was all he was capable of, still lost in a fog, his lips a little numb.

"It's almost six," she said, and then she pulled back to look in his face and giggled.

Chuck shook his head and cleared his throat. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize." She wrinkled her nose regretfully. "But we do have to get a move on if we're going to get high enough to see the sunrise."

Chuck helped her off of his lap and let her tug him up to his feet in front of her. "Not sure getting high on a stomach filled with whiskey is a great idea." He gave her a cheeky grin and she snorted, patting his cheek.

"That was cute. Corny, but cute. You know what I meant. There's a road I know of that leads up to an outlook point. Perfect for the sunrise. It will get us a really good view." She paused. "If you want to."

"Hell yes," he said immediately. Even if he was a little tired, he wasn't going to be the one to end this. He could sleep whenever he wanted to. This was his vacation, after all.

"Kay. But we have to hurry back so that we can take my car in time to see it rise."

"Well how long do we have?" he asked, quickly snagging the whiskey from the table and sliding it back into his backpack.

"About forty five minutes, give or take a few."

"Let's do this," he said, grabbing her hand.

But she held fast, her strong grip nearly pulling him back against her. "The lights," she said, pointing a little comically.

"Right, yeeah. Thoose."

"I'll be right back," she giggled. "Take care of the lamp while I'm gone, huh?"

He did, and she was gone for less than half a minute before the lights flicked off around him, immersing him in nothing but gentle moonlight streaming through the trees.

Chuck watched as her alluring shadow moved across the patio towards him, and then she was there again, sliding her hand into his. "I'd say we could run, but I'm in heels."

"I could hoist you up into my arms and run."

She laughed, pulling him along at a fast walk. "That's a little too drowning-victim for me. But it's sweet of you to offer."

**}o{**

"It's coming. I can feel it."

He heard Sarah giggle from where she was digging around in her trunk. And then she slammed it shut and came back around to the driver's side, sliding in behind the wheel holding a comfortable-looking blanket. "Want some? It's big."

"Uh, I think I'll be—oh! Okay."

She giggled again, having already reached over him to tuck it around his body. She slid back into her seat and snuggled up beneath it, kicking off her heels and pulling her feet up under her body. "This is my favorite part of the day."

"Ass-crack of dawn?"

Sarah snorted. "Sure, we can go with that. It's just very peaceful. People are still asleep. The sky slowly getting lighter and lighter. Nature is just starting to stir. The birds chirping. That fresh dewy morning smell."

"I typically sleep through this part of the day."

"I do, too. And then sometimes I…don't. It's rejuvenating, waking up in time to see the sun rise. Sometimes I go for runs at this time."

"You take a nap later, though, right?"

Her smile made him wonder if, just for a moment, the sun had already risen and he'd somehow missed it. But no…

"Not a morning person then, huh?"

"If I have to be." He shook his head. "No, you're right, though. It is the best time of the day. I wish I wasn't such a lazy-ass, and maybe I'd see it more often."

"You should go for a run with me."

"Ha!" He chuckled. "Haha. Good one. You'd lap me at least three times, before I'd finally give up and just crawl onto the floor and just lie there. Half dead."

"I don't think so."

Chuck tilted his head and made a high-pitched, doubtful sound. "You're just being nice, but thanks."

"I know firsthand that you've got an impressive amount of endurance."

She stared at the horizon instead of looking at him on purpose, he was sure. And that was good, because her meaning hit him the moment she spoke, and it was like a punch to his gut. A really, really good punch to his gut. And he was blushing like mad now.

"Well, I, uh…erm…I'm glad." He winced and shook his head at himself, glancing the other way. _Idiot._

She hummed quietly. "So am I."

All he could do was blush as he finally saw the sky start to turn a stunning mixture of pink, orange, and purple. They sat in comfortable silence as the first sliver of the sun made itself known. And they watched it rise oh so slowly, a vibrant yellow splotch in the sky that got brighter the further it separated itself from the horizon.

"So…wow."

Chuck bit his cheek, feeling like maybe he shouldn't have broken the peaceful silence that fell between them with something that paltry. "So…wow" didn't even begin to do what he'd just witnessed justice.

"Nice, huh?" He just nodded, still staring out at the horizon. "Kind of makes you think life is sort of great, right?"

"There's no way I'm gonna argue with that," Chuck answered quietly, turning to look at her finally.

There was a yellowish-orange glow to her face from the early morning sun, and the breeze fluttered at her hair, whisking it over her face. Chuck really couldn't help himself. He leaned over and reached up, tenderly stroking the hair away from her stunning, quiet features and tucking it behind her ear. His thumb gently followed the swoop of her ear, and he felt her jaw clench under his fingers.

Sarah shifted in her seat so that she was fully facing him and she pressed her cheek to the backrest, nuzzling it a little. When he moved to take his hand away, she quickly grabbed it between both of hers and pulled it back to her face, the smile gracing her lips having just a tad of shyness.

Oh, he was sunk. He knew he was sunk. He was back in the ocean, except this time his ankle was tied to a cannon. There was no way for him to come up for air. There was no coming back from this.

Sarah twisted her lips to the side and nibbled thoughtfully on the bottom one. "We should probably go back."

Chuck narrowed his eyes and nodded. "Yeeaah."

But neither of them moved for awhile. Finally, she lowered his hand away from her face and she turned back to sit in her seat properly, pushing the blanket over onto Chuck. They buckled up again and she turned the car on, carefully and skillfully backing the car up enough to turn around and begin the slow drive back down the hill to the main street that would lead them back to Chuck's hotel.

Surprisingly, she didn't do the whole death-defying car trick act he'd been privy to the night before, or even on the way to their sunrise destination an hour earlier. Instead, she drove a little more…well, safely. But also without that need to get to where they were going as fast as possible.

And he wondered if she really wanted to get there at all. He didn't. He wanted to stay out here until he literally passed out from complete exhaustion. But he knew that wasn't going to happen.

Especially as she pulled into the lot in the back of the hotel and slid into a parking space, turning off the car. He was going to turn to her and thank her, do his best not to make the goodbye awkward.

But she unbuckled her seatbelt and got out, turning to look down at him. "What…?" And then he could see in her face that she probably knew exactly what, because she winced and looked a little embarrassed. "Oh, I—" she started, but he cut her off, scrambling out of the car.

"I promised you breakfast. And breakfast is what you're gonna get. Let's go."

Her smile still looked a little tentative as she watched him shut the door and gesture towards the nearby side entrance into the hotel. She finally shut her own door and followed him.

He was glad neither of them felt the need to break the silence as they headed up to his suite. Though she did giggle a little when he had trouble getting his card out of his pocket to let them into the actual room.

As they walked inside, he turned to face her, watching as she slowly swung the door, the soft click of it shutting the only sound in the room. The morning light spilled in from the balcony, but he didn't dare look away from her.

"So…breakfast. Are we thinking the works? Eggs, bacon…scrambled, omelet…or should we go carb heavy with pancakes and waffles?"

Sarah didn't respond, instead walking up to him and curling her fingers around his. Then she stepped around him and gave him a little tug, very pointedly backing towards the bedroom.

"Or are you more into yogurt and berries? A little granola?"

An amused smile caused her to press her lips tightly together, still not answering him, still leading him back towards the bedroom, her steps slow and seductive.

Chuck kept going, wanting to see that amused smile bust open on her face, the light he'd seen a few times last night and this morning spilling out for him to feast on again. Because he was addicted to it.

"Please don't tell me oatmeal. I feel like that's such a waste of room service. Like, just the thought of someone down there in the most likely super fancy kitchen pouring oats into hot water and stirring it makes me cringe."

She finally laughed and shook her head at him, pulling him into the bedroom. The door shut securely behind them.


	4. Chapter 4

He knew she was gone before he even opened his eyes.

They'd fallen back into bed together in the morning light. It had been frenzied, insanely enjoyable, and exhausting. It hadn't taken long for both of them to fall into a deep sleep afterwards.

Her hard, warm body had been pressed into his chest, her skin so soft under his hands as he cradled her, tangled his legs with hers, buried his face in her hair. That had been how he'd fallen asleep.

And when he woke up, he immediately felt her absence. The cool air against his chest and legs, the sheet bunched up at his feet.

Chuck grumbled as he propped himself up on his elbows, running a hand down his face and glancing around the room. Sarah's dress wasn't where he'd remembered them dropping it early this morning when they got back from watching the sunrise. But the hotel robe she'd worn during breakfast was neatly folded and set at the end of the bed. It made him smile tiredly. He could just see her pick it up from the floor where she'd tossed it after breakfast, fold it into a nice little square, and set it there.

And then came the melancholy. She was actually gone this time. She'd woken up and left without saying anything, letting him sleep.

Or maybe she'd done it so that she could avoid an awkward goodbye. He didn't blame her.

Chuck sat up all the way with a grunt and yawned, ruffling his hair with his hands and swinging his legs around to stand up. So many things in his body protested. Between the staying up all night, drinking, fast-walking from the restaurant to the hotel to catch the sunrise, and the multiple bouts of sex, his body was spent.

"Worth it," he muttered through another yawn, stretching his arms above his head and groaning at how good it felt when a billion little things in his body popped.

He pushed the melancholy back and padded into the bathroom, turning on the shower.

There was nothing to be bummed about. Why should he be bummed? The last twenty four hours of his life had been the best twenty four hours of his life. At least that he could remember. There was that one twenty-four-hour party he'd gone to at Stanford, and while he was sure he had the best time ever, he didn't remember it afterwards, so it automatically disqualified the experience from the contest.

He'd never felt this alive.

And it wasn't even that his life was particularly boring and uneventful. It wasn't like he was in some kind of funk or ennui. He had purpose. BarTech was doing some massively important things—or at least, that was his goal. He had goals, dreams, and he was working to achieve them. He had an amazing circle of family and friends. Great employees who respected and worked hard for the company.

His life was pretty damn fantastic, actually. And he knew this. He felt it every day.

And still, he'd never felt this good.

It wasn't just about Scuba Sarah.

He wasn't so silly as to think all of this was just because he'd gone on a really good date. There was more to it than that.

Chuck had taken a big step in conquering his greatest fear.

He'd said a silent but powerful 'FUCK YOU' to the post-traumatic stress disorder he'd dragged around with him for the past ten years. And without even realizing what she was doing, Sarah Walker the scuba instructor had brilliantly and kindly persuaded him to trust in her. The terror of feeling water surrounding him had been eased by the pressure of her hand squeezing his. She'd coaxed him into a cave of wonders. Maybe it was more of a valley of wonders. Nevertheless, he'd never felt so terrified and yet safe at the same time. It was a strange combo.

He felt adrenaline rocket through him even now, as he stood under the jet of the shower.

That had been such a massive leap for him. A huge risk. And it hadn't been to impress the gorgeous scuba instructor. It had been for himself, and possibly for Ellie's bank account, as well. Just a little.

But he had a feeling that he _had_ impressed the gorgeous scuba instructor. He allowed himself this small bit of pride, this swelling of his ego. Sarah Walker probably saw so many people in just a single week while doing her job. There were a lot of people on her boat yesterday. On the daily, she must meet people from all over the world, he thought. And yet, she'd stepped away from the other students, the other clients, customers, whatever they were. She'd sat down next to him, talked to him, and she got him to trust her.

Why she cared in the first place, he had no idea. Scuba Shack Kauai had his money—well, Ellie and Devon's money. Whether he sat on the boat for a few hours or went down to explore with the rest of them shouldn't make any difference. She could've just shrugged, geared up, and gone down to act as guide for another group.

Instead, she leaned against the railing of the boat and she listened to him. She listened to his story with genuine sadness, instead of the pity he was used to. And she'd been so sincere, a little halting, awkward, looking like she really didn't know the best way to respond. It was refreshing.

But why did she try so hard to get him into the water?

Something told him the connection between them was there right in the beginning, and maybe that was why. Maybe they had a lot in common, though he doubted that very much. She was different from him in the most attractive way possible. Or perhaps some unknown link, a strong bond, had been formed without either of them knowing it, for some random reason neither of them could understand fully.

It was the way of the world. The magic of human emotions.

Chuck finished his shower and stepped out onto the rug, snagging his towel and drying off quickly, scrubbing his wet curls, then tying the towel around his waist.

As he crossed the bathroom, his eyes caught sight of the light marks on his back. They were still there. A reminder of _that_ part of the night.

He let out a slow breath and grinned, sauntering proudly into the bedroom to get dressed for the day.

Maybe yesterday's adventure would prove to be a turning point. This whole trip would be a turning point, he thought. For him. For his life.

Adventure was kind of awesome. As were adventurous people.

How many people in the world had experiences like this? People like him who did the same thing every day, only to have someone burst into their life, shake things up a bit, and disappear again, leaving them changed.

Chuck Bartowski didn't like boastful people. He grew tired of the kind of people who had big heads, were full of themselves. And while he liked to give people the benefit of the doubt more often than not, he tended to dislike arrogant and self-important people.

That said, he was brimming with self-confidence. He felt _really_ good about himself, about his life.

His wallet was full, his stomach was full, his heart was full, his soul was full. And a ridiculously stunning woman—easily the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen in his life, models in magazines included—had willingly spent all of yesterday and all of last night with him. And he dared to think that maybe she had enjoyed it.

There was something a little mysterious about her. And not in that cliché _alluring but dangerous_ way crap movies portrayed women as sometimes.

She was tight-lipped about certain things. If he asked a question she seemed not to want to answer, she cleverly changed the subject, or turned the question around on him. And though he saw what she was doing clear as day, he pretended he didn't. It hadn't seemed necessary. He let her have those boundaries, protect herself. From what, he didn't know.

He didn't feel like he was a threat or dangerous in any way. Though, she couldn't know that after only one date.

There was the fact that she told him she'd moved around a lot. She didn't like being in one place for a long stretch of time. And he wondered if that meant she had a hard time forming bonds with people, having relationships. If that was the case, it was no wonder she didn't relinquish much about herself. He didn't blame her for it.

But he wanted the chance to know more about her, fill in the blanks, learn what made her tick.

It wasn't meant to be, though.

He started getting dressed, dwelling on why he'd never exchanged phone numbers with her. He'd been too busy being with her to think about getting her phone number. Would she even want to give him her phone number? Would it have been too presumptuous to ask?

_Wait…_

Chuck did a double take as he looked at the nightstand. Yeah, he'd slept past noon and that was a little shocking, but next to the digital clock there was a notepad, and he could see someone had written on it.

He didn't even get his shirt on all the way by the time he reached the nightstand and snatched the notepad from it.

_In case you didn't think I was serious about that second date, do you have dinner plans tonight?_

He stared at the number beneath.

Chuck Bartowski was sure no other ten numbers had ever made him _this_ happy.

It was a testament to just how much of an impression the scuba instructor had made on her client.

Chuck let out a massively goofy whoop, punched his fist into the air, and flopped onto his bed. He didn't give a rat's ass about whether she might read into how quickly he called her, whether she'd think he was desperate or needy.

He rushed to his phone and picked it up to call her.

Because he hadn't had dinner plans before.

But he did now.

**}o{**

The knock on his door came earlier than he'd expected it. A half hour earlier, to be exact.

In that extra half hour he thought he'd have, he'd planned on showering after his dip in the pool and answering the door in actual clothes, and not in his swim trunks.

Chuck froze, then looked down at himself. He cursed quietly and looked around. His clothes were in the other room. And she'd just knocked a second time because he'd spent such a long time staring at the door he was sure Sarah Walker stood behind at this moment.

It was fine. She was early. He'd just make apologies.

Sure, it was fine.

And as he whipped open the door, he came face to face with the woman he'd thought he might never see again only a few hours ago, before he'd found her note on the nightstand.

"Hey. Um…" He blushed.

She beamed and very pointedly lowered her gaze to his chest, then lower, and back up again, the grin dimming. She winced. "Too early, huh? Last night I was late, so I thought I'd leave early to make time for traffic and then there was no traffic, which is honestly kind of a miracle. I over-corrected, though, didn't I?"

"No, no. It's okay. I…I was in the pool. Which is why I—I mean, I don't typically answer the door in…" He gestured to himself.

"That puts me at ease. No surprises for the housekeeping staff. Although, admittedly, it wouldn't be the worst surprise ever." Her blue eyes lowered to his chest again. And for the first time, he thanked Devon's pushiness in getting him to weight train with him instead of playing video games with a pissy Morgan Grimes a few nights per week after work.

"Uhhhhhh…" He blushed again. "I don't know how to…respond…to that. How 'bout you just come in and I'll rinse off real quick and get dressed?" He grinned cheesily and she laughed, stepping inside as he opened the door wider for her.

"Really, I _am_ sorry about getting here so early. I'm watching the money I spend on gas right now, otherwise I would've driven in circles around the hotel a few times before I came up." She unzipped her gray hoodie and shrugged it off as he watched, unable to keep his eyes off of her. He really needed to try, though. Because he was being rude.

"No, it's okay. I don't mind. As long as you don't mind chilling on the furniture for, um, for a bit."

Chilling on the _furniture_? What, was he an alien from another planet doing a really bad job of pretending to be human? What the hell was wrong with his mouth?

His thought process must have shown on his face because she laughed at him and patted his chest, her eyes sweeping over him again, though he didn't notice this time. "Take your time. We don't have reservations or anything, so don't worry."

"Uh, okay. I'll, um, I'll be out in a jif. As they say."

He darted into the other room and rolled his eyes so hard, he practically ended up with a head ache.

It was a little over ten minutes before he emerged wearing jeans and a T-shirt, his maroon hoodie zipped up over the Star Wars logo. He ruffled his hair with a towel and then pushed it back with his hand, knowing for a fact that it would bounce right back again. Didn't stop him from trying.

Sarah was lounging on his couch, her sneakers kicked off and her socked feet propped on the coffee table, tapping away on her phone. He let his eyes slide up her long legs, the black denim capris she wore ending a few inches under her knees.

She quickly swiveled around and put her hands on the back of the couch to face him, pulling her feet down. "You're very observant," she said, her gaze gliding up and down his tall figure.

He felt self-conscious for a second, halting in the middle of the room. "Huh?"

She pushed to her feet and walked around the couch towards him. "I just mean, I showed up in jeans and a sweatshirt, and you noticed and dressed accordingly."

"Yeah, I noticed."

Chuck didn't mean for the extra innuendo to be there, but she picked up on it anyway. Yes, he noticed. Of course he noticed. No straight man with eyeballs that functioned properly wouldn't notice.

Her smirk was at least an amused one.

"Uh, so…so what are we doing?"

"Get your shoes on. We're hopping in my car and we'll go from there."

Chuck lifted an eyebrow and pursed his lips dubiously as he sat on the arm of the couch and pulled his socks on. "Go _where_ from there?"

He watched as she twisted her lips to the side thoughtfully, or maybe she was being shy? He didn't know her well enough to be able to really read her.

But what he _could_ read was that she wasn't going to tell him. And he was perfectly fine with that as he slid his Converse on and tied them.

He followed her out of his suite, making sure he had his wallet, keys, and phone. And when her hand bumped into his as they walked into the elevator, he momentarily considered threading his fingers with hers. But he felt a little awkward doing that. He'd only met her yesterday.

So he shoved his hands in his pockets instead, smiling over at her as she pushed the button for the ground floor.

It wasn't until they were sitting in her car and pulling onto the street in front of his hotel that she finally spoke up. "I hope you don't mind not doing the whole fancy dinner thing like last night."

Chuck's eyebrows popped and he quickly spun to look at her. "No! No, uh, no. You're the boss. I mean, you planned all this. Told me to trust you when I called about dinner so … I do. Trust you, I mean. I trust you."

"You ought to, considering what happened yesterday," she said with a grin. He merely blinked at her. She looked at him with a bit of a double take. "You know, the scuba diving. You had no problem trusting me with _that_ , so … I hope you trust me with dinner."

"Oh! Yeah! I mean, I do. For sure. And for the record, I did have problems going in yesterday, but it wasn't that I didn't trust you, it was that I didn't trust … Mother Nature."

She laughed. "Yeah, well, I don't blame you."

"Wait, you-you said no fancy dinner? What exactly are we, um, doing? I mean, I'm game no matter what. I'm stoked. Energized. Ready for adventure."

Her giggle added to the buzz he felt being in her car with her again, watching the wisps of hair that escaped her braid whip about her face in the wind. He clamped his hands together to resist the urge to reach over and push her hair behind her ear. It was a useless gesture, what with the wind, but it was also too intimate of a gesture. And he couldn't let how comfortable he felt with her dictate how he treated this situation.

It was a second date.

_God, thank you_.

"Well, it's not quite as much of an adventure as we had last night, I assure you. No rooftops, no sneaking alcohol into my old work. More like a picnic on the beach."

"Ooooo! Like a campfire on the sand?"

She giggled again. "No, not quite. It's actually illegal in the state of Hawaii to have fires on the beaches. I mean, people do it. I've done it before with friends, you just have to be seriously careful. Get rid of the debris and make sure the fire is all the way out."

"Destroy the evidence," he said. "Gotcha." Another giggle. He could do this all night.

"All of that said, I'm not opposed to a little fire."

Sarah left it at that as she drove up into the hills above his hotel, weaving through houses that all looked incredibly different. There were none of the cookie cutter model homes he saw in some of the newer suburbs he knew in the greater LA area. Some looked like cabins, others were very modern with big glass windows that looked out over the ocean and flat roofs, decks built into the side of the hill on stilts. Some looked small and homey, others big and grandiose and a little unnecessary. Spanish style, Italian villa, stone, brick, craftsman…and quite a few looked very heavily influenced by Japanese architecture.

When they got to the top of the hill, she made another turn into a street that slanted down again, and they were shrouded in trees for a full minute or so as she slowed down, carefully turning out of the trees and emerging again in front of a small one-story home that looked quiet and lived-in all at once. It had a wooden porch that wrapped around the house, the railings white and newly painted it looked like, a gray front door, a dark brown shingled roof that swooped up to a single point, and plenty of paned windows of various sizes that he could see.

She pulled around down a sloped driveway and stopped the car outside of what looked like a garage that wasn't connected to the main house. This was hers, he realized a bit belatedly. Her house. Where she lived.

"This is it," she chirped, and she reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear. It was a nervous gesture, he thought. Like she wasn't entirely sure bringing him to her place was a great idea. Probably because of the whole privacy thing.

Or maybe it was because she was worried about what he might think of it?

But she needn't have worried, because so far he was enchanted. Stubby but lovely palm trees lazily curved up from the ground in bunches of two or three around the small property. And he thought he spied a garden through the walkway between the house and the garage. Was she a gardener?

He didn't want to pry, however, so he simply followed Sarah around to the porch.

There were yet more steps from there that led to an even smaller porch where the door was and he mused that he'd never seen a porch on top of a porch before. It was like her porch had two separate levels. He liked it. And as he glanced around the corner, he saw that the house was raised about a foot, probably because the ground beneath it was a little uneven.

Sarah halted in front of her door, her key poised at the lock, and then she lowered it and turned towards him.

"Um, I picked some things up today after I woke up from a long and much needed nap…"

He pointed at her and then gestured to himself in silent commiseration and she hummed in amusement.

"Just please don't judge me if things are a little…er…dusty or something. It's been awhile since I've had time to—"

"No, please. Don't worry on my account. I won't judge even if a cockroach skitters over my foot."

She looked at him a little funny and he swallowed loudly, shaking his head at himself.

"Just…ignore what comes out of my mouth. From now on. And know that I won't judge." He winced and shook his head at himself again as she laughed and unlocked the door.

The inside was as nice as the outside.

That was the only word he could think of. It all just fit her. It wasn't too traditional, nor was it overtly modern. It just felt comfortable. And in spite of her disclaimer, the place was pretty neat and clean.

Of course, his sneakers scraped against the wooden floor by the mat, the tell tale sound of beach sand scratching underfoot. And that, of all things, made him smile.

He'd always imagined people in Hawaii having these bits of sand on the floor around the house. Like they spent all their time on the beach and just couldn't help the sand everywhere. No matter how often they cleaned.

He loved it.

"So…yeah. Uh, this is it."

"Casa de Scuba Sarah." She gave him a flat look that was still amused.

"I love it," he said almost immediately. He turned to her as she slid her gaze over to meet his. "Really. It's super comfy looking. Like a home."

She smiled, obviously pleased. "I still haven't entirely, uh, broken it in."

"No?"

She shook her head. "I mean, it's the first house I've lived in. I've always been in hotel rooms, apartments, never an actual house. But it was a lot cheaper renting this place from Alani than it was finding some apartment somewhere. And she gives me a lot of freedom. She trusts me. And she pretty much leaves me alone, since I'm never late with rent or anything."

"Oh, you rent it?"

"Yeah. She doesn't live on this island anymore. She lives with her son's family on Oahu. Here, follow me," she said, gesturing with a shrug and walking through the living room towards the doorway that he assumed led into the kitchen. "I think she wanted to sell the house, honestly, and maybe if I end up here for an extended period of time, I'll just buy it from her. She's so hands-off, it's almost like I'm the owner anyway."

They stepped into the kitchen together and she went to the stainless steel fridge in the corner. There was a row of hanging dark wood cupboards, a granite counter underneath with more cupboards built into it.

The sink was opposite that, with a large window and lace curtains looking out at the small yard where he saw better evidence of a garden and beyond that, the Pacific Ocean down below. It probably looked closer than it was, but still, it was stunning.

"So…" he said. "If you have a plumbing problem, for instance…"

"I fix it."

"Yourself?" He turned on his heel to stare at her. "On top of all of her other talents, she's also a plumbing guru," he said, teasingly making his voice dreamy.

She laughed and grabbed a large square cooler out of the fridge, setting it on the butcher block behind her. "No, I didn't mean it like that. Sorry to bust your bubble, but I couldn't fix a leak for the life of me. I meant that I pay for it to get fixed. I deal with all of that. I update her about all the goings-ons, obviously. But…it's all on me."

"That's a bummer kinda, isn't it?"

"Not really." She shook her head and went back into the fridge again, pulling a bottle of champagne out. She gave him a bit of an eyebrow waggle as she saw him look at it and he grinned at her.

"It's really not a bummer," she continued. "I like having that kind of independence. I wouldn't want to have to wait for her to make calls and get folks out here. She's got a family and I think she babysits her grandkids most of the time. So…" She shrugged.

"What about decorating? Is that all hers, or yours?"

"It's mine," she chirped, shutting the fridge and going into the freezer above it. She pulled out two champagne flutes and opened the lunch box, sliding them inside carefully. "You have really good timing, because I just recently finished getting things to a place where I feel like this is my own space, you know?"

He nodded. "I get you. But congrats, anyway."

"Congrats?" She looked at him closely, a smile tugging at her lips.

He chuckled, scratching the back of his head self-consciously. "Sorry. I say that to people who are in their twenties and have a place of their own with…like, autonomy and all that. These are hard times," he finished, giving her a faux serious look.

She laughed and shook her head. "Well, thank you. It's not really like I had a choice, though, so don't give me too much credit."

"You deserve it. Credit, I mean."

Sarah stopped and turned to give him a long look, and then she smiled a bit and closed the distance between them, putting a hand on his cheek. "You don't know me well enough to say that." She leaned up to kiss him slowly, laving the bite he felt at her words, and then she pulled back and said, "But you have no idea how much I appreciate that you said it anyway."

He was reeling a little from the kiss, so he just smiled a bit dopily and nodded.

"I'm just going to grab some stuff from the laundry room. I'll be right back." He nodded again as she smiled and disappeared out of the other door, the wood floors cracking under her footsteps.

She came back a minute later with towels and a large blanket, as well as a large beach bag dangling from her fingers. He rushed to her side to take the brunt of her load from her and she smiled her thanks, grabbing the lunch pail and the champagne. "Hmmmm…"

Chuck watched as she moved to his side and pushed the champagne bottle into the beach bag, along with a bottle opener she grabbed out of a drawer.

"In case someone spots me walking around with a bottle of champagne and tries to bust me."

He chuckled and followed her through the doorway she'd just gone through a few minutes earlier, looking around the small dining room with its dark wood table, and a long surfboard leaning against the opposite wall next to the sliding glass doors that led out onto a small patio with a barbecue and a table and chairs.

Sarah opened the door and gestured him through it. She locked it behind her as she joined him on the patio. The sun was nearly set, though it was a little behind them at the moment. He figured not being able to see the sunset from her house wasn't that much of a drawback, considering she could still see the ocean.

And apparently, it was easy enough for her to walk to the beach from her home since they weren't heading back to the car.

They got down to the beach, which ended up only being a fifteen minute walk through a quiet neighborhood, and they kicked off their shoes and socks, hobbling through the sand to a spot of Sarah's choosing.

Until finally, she seemed to find a good place and she stopped, running her feet back and forth to flatten it out a little and then setting down her load.

Chuck did the same and they laid out the largest towel before Sarah unloaded her bag with their food and drinks.

Within minutes, they were sitting across from each other, each with a wrapped cold cut and cheese sandwich, all the trimmings included, and a large bag of chips along with washed and sliced vegetables in a ziplock.

"Sorry there's no dip…"

Chuck looked up from the bag of vegetables he'd been eyeing and raised his eyebrows at her. "Uh…Oh! No that's—I don't need dip. That's okay." He reached in and grabbed a slice of a red bell pepper, disappearing half of it inside of his mouth and chomping down, munching with a smile.

As he finished it off, he glanced out at the water. "Uh, beautiful out here at this time of the day. Isn't it? What with the, um, the ocean. And whatnot."

His face heated as he felt her blue eyes fasten on him, and the prickle of her gaze against his cheek.

Finally, he turned to look at her. Her lips were pursed and her eyes were amused, even as she reached up to tuck a loose wisp of hair behind her ear with the hand that wasn't holding her sandwich.

They exchanged a look and they both chuckled simultaneously. Chuck watched as she ducked her head, tucking her hair behind her ear again.

"You feel that, then?" he asked shyly, scratching his jaw.

"What? The, erm…bit of…awkwardness?" she asked just as shyly.

"That, yes. Good. Then I'm not the only one. What are we doing?"

She giggled and shook her head. This time it was her turn to break his gaze and look out at the water. "I…don't know. I think we're both just being silly."

"Yeah. Totally. Absolutely," he agreed quickly. "Completely silly."

"I mean, last night was…"

"It _was_. Exactly."

"What I mean is we just clicked. And it was super natural, you know—"

"Organic."

"I think maybe we need to let go a bit. Relax. Both of us."

"Relax. Definitely."

"And just…You know, take this in and enj _mmmff!_ "

Chuck didn't know what happened. But something had snapped. He could've held back. He could've ignored the urge to kiss Sarah Walker the scuba instructor. He could've let her at least finish her thought.

But he didn't want to.

So instead, he set his half-eaten sandwich down and leaned in to kiss her, his hand coming up to cup her cheek and pull her close. He heard a soft thump and a rustle of paper and then both of her hands were cupping his face.

Her lips were more insistent than he'd been entirely prepared for, but he didn't complain. Instead he reached out and curled an arm around her waist, scooting even closer to her, feeling the heat of her body as she met him halfway and pressed herself into him.

When he felt Sarah's fingers close around the zipper tab on his sweatshirt, beginning to tug it down, he smiled into the kiss, preparing to lower her down against the towel.

And then there was a sudden gust of wind. Sarah hugged him tighter with one arm, but neither of them were prepared for the sand to sweep up into their faces.

They pulled apart, laughing, and Chuck turned his head, coughing and teasingly spitting off to the side. "Yeah, Mother Nature. We get it. Dinner first."

He turned to watch as Sarah giggled, brushing bits of sand off of the front of her shirt.

"That was a little rude of her," she said, smirking. "But understandable. We are on her turf."

Chuck nodded his head once in agreement, then he picked up his sandwich and started munching on it again. "Maybe she should stop making her turf so romantic and there wouldn't be a problem."

Another gust blew past and literally blew a large swath of the towel they sat on up and over his head from behind. Sarah let out a peel of laughter as he sat there, the towel obscuring his face, sandwich in hand. He just continued to chew, swallowing. And then he lifted the sandwich and took another bite out of it, nonchalantly.

Sarah slowly lifted the towel just a bit so that they could meet gazes, laughter in her face and eyes still. "She showed you."

"You aren't wrong," he said flatly, taking another bite out of the sandwich.

She laughed again and moved up onto her knees, pulling the towel off of his head and leaning close to him so that she could reach behind and flatten the towel back onto the sand again. "Maybe I'll just move something onto the corner, in case…" She shifted, her hair tickled his nose as her braid swept around to the front of her. She snagged one of his shoes and then moved back to toss it on the corner of the towel, he assumed to keep the wind from messing with their dinner again.

But she was leaning so close he could smell her shampoo and the soft scent of something…fresh and calming…

And instead of crawling over to sit down again, Sarah pulled her face back just enough for it to be lined up with his.

Wordlessly, she leaned in to kiss him slowly, bringing one hand up to stroke down his jaw. And when she pulled back just a bit, her nose rubbing against his, he breathed, "So what you're saying is you don't care what Mother Nature thinks…?"

She giggled quietly and pecked his lips again. "She just needs to get used to it." She kissed him again, just as slowly but a little more demanding this time.

But she moved back just in time. He'd been close to combusting. A moment later and he would've had her pinned to the ground, towel or not.

Chuck bit his bottom lip and diverted his gaze as she settled back into her seat and started eating again.

He glanced at her over his sandwich, blushing a bit when he pulled back and a piece of ham smacked his chin. He swung it into his mouth and cleared his throat, looking out at the water and hoping she didn't see it. She did, obviously, as she giggled at him.

"Charming." He winced for her benefit and she giggled again. "No, really," she continued. "I take it as a compliment."

"Well, I only eat like a pig when I really like what I'm eating. You should see me at In-N-Out. I'm a downright animal."

There was a long pause. Long enough that he turned to look at her again. "What?" he asked. "Wait. Wait wait." He felt anguish assail him suddenly as he realized what the look on her face meant. "In-N-Out?" She shrugged and shook her head. "Sarah! Really?"

"What is it?"

"It's a masterpiece of a burger, is what it is. Best fries ever. But that burger is just…You've really never heard of In-N-Out, have you?"

"Nope." She blinked.

He narrowed his eyes and then chuckled at himself. "Sorry. That was a purely Californian reaction. It's a staple over there. And if anyone from anywhere else tries to argue that any other burger is better, we will defend it to the death."

She laughed and pursed her lips. "That good, huh?"

"It's really amazing. Seriously. Maybe—" He stopped himself then.

"What?" she prompted.

"Uh, I forget." He chuckled and played it off. And he knew she didn't fall for it for a second, but she was kind and she let him have it.

He hadn't forgotten what he'd been about to say, of course. His filter had just decided to work for once. This was only the second day he'd known this woman, only the second date technically. It would be way too intense, much too serious, for him to say, "Maybe you can come to LA and I'll show you", even offhandedly.

"Honestly, though. Great sandwich you've put together here. Rivals, if not surpasses, the sandwiches I get at Lou's back home. And that's a huge compliment because her sandwiches are magnificent, and I'm also something of a sandwich aficionado, sooo…" He winked and watched as she wrinkled her nose and giggled, looking away.

"S'that so? And who is this Lou who makes you sandwiches?"

Chuck watched closely for any signs of sincere jealousy. And damn it, but he felt foolish for being a bit disappointed when he couldn't pick up on any. There was just humor, teasing.

Just because he was losing his grip on his sanity with this woman, didn't mean she was falling even remotely as hard as he was. And he silently willed himself to take a damn breath, chill a bit, and just enjoy.

"Uh, she owns a sandwich shop near BarTech—er, I mean, my company. And I go there to buy lunch every so often. She even named a sandwich after me. Pretty cool." He grinned at her, deciding not to mention he'd nearly drummed up the courage to ask Lou the sandwich girl out on a date before this vacation.

The flirtation had gotten a little more…noticeable, lately.

He wasn't sure he wanted to ask Lou out now. Maybe that was silly, unrealistic, stupid. But the woman currently sharing this quiet beach with him as the sun neared the horizon…She was unrivaled in…well, everything, frankly.

And he wondered if his love life was forever ruined now that he'd met her.

"Is it called The Nerd?" her voice interrupted his deep thoughts.

He chuckled. "Uh, no. Thanks."

"The Tall Nerd?"

He chuckled harder. "Nope."

"Do you like her?" she asked then.

And he gaped. "W-What? No."

The scuba instructor lowered her chin and gave him a flat look through her eyelashes. "I don't know what's wrong with me that I find your inability to lie so cute."

"I'm not lying. She's … alright." He winced. "That was almost rude. She's a…nice person. Makes great sandwiches."

"She isn't your girlfriend, is she?"

"What? Absolutely not. I'm not that—I wouldn't—I'm not that kind of guy, Sarah. I know you haven't known me longer than two days, but…I guess…I mean, I hope I don't come off as the cheating type. Lou isn't my girlfriend."

"Good." Then she slowly scooted a bit closer, crinkling her empty sandwich wrapper up and tossing it in an empty bag. "Though I have to admit, I'm not all that sure I wouldn't try to wrestle you away from her if she was."

His jaw fell open and his eyebrows shot straight into his hairline just about. "Scuba Sarah, you're a very bad girl."

She giggled and reached up to flatten the hem of his sleeve that had curled up at some point during the night. "I know. Challenging Mother Nature, stealing sandwich girls' men."

The way she bounced her eyebrows at him had Chuck giggling. Not laughing or chuckling… Giggling.

"Well," he said, sobering just a tad, "said sandwich girl doesn't have a man. Actually, I mean, I don't know her status. I looked for a ring once and didn't see one, but she handles food so maybe she takes it off? I dunno."

"Put a lot of thought into it, huh?"

Chuck winced and she laughed good-naturedly.

"Why haven't you asked her out?" He made a face and she leaned over, bumping his arm with hers. "What? Are you uncomfortable having this conversation with me? It's okay, Chuck. You've got a life back in LA and that's okay." She pursed her lips teasingly, raising her eyebrows and he chuckled, shaking his head.

Because he wasn't uncomfortable, weirdly enough. Granted, he found it uncomfortable talking to Ellie about it the one time he slipped and brought Lou up. But that was because she cornered him, pointed her finger in his face, and said, "You ask that girl out or so help me…"

He hadn't asked her out and Ellie hadn't done anything about it.

But this felt different. And…

Oh.

He'd nearly missed it.

He was sure of what he saw, though. There was no mistaking it. There was no misreading it. Even though he found this woman mysterious and a little tight-lipped (compared to him, at least), even though he found her hard to read at times…

She squirmed a bit and gnawed on her lip, looking away from him. And there was something in her eyes…

Sarah the scuba instructor was a little jealous. She had to be. He had to be right. Granted, he'd been wrong often enough. But he was sure about this.

She was _jealous_.

And in spite of the glowing spot deep inside of his chest, it never occurred to him to milk it for all it was worth. It never occurred to him to make her even more jealous.

Instead, he sought to reassure her, stamp it out.

Without even knowing what he was doing or why, he reached over and took Sarah's hand. "I'm not uncomfortable at all." He curled his fingers around hers and gave a gentle squeeze when her blue eyes swept over to meet his brown ones. "Honestly, she isn't someone I've spent a lot of time thinking about. But she's pretty and makes good sandwiches. She's flirted with me. I've…attempted to flirt back. But she's not…"

He paused, not really knowing how to explain it. And Sarah was mercifully silent as he attempted to iron out his thoughts, make them into words that actually made sense.

"There's no connection there. Maybe that's why I didn't ask her out. Maybe I just knew there wasn't any real bond. …Or maybe I'm just a wimp!"

"You asked _me_ out. And that was after a few hours. Pretty gutsy for a self-proclaimed nerd." She gave his hand a teasing tug and he grinned down at his lap, trying not to blush.

He was unsuccessful.

"Yeah, well…This is different. You're different."

"…Am I?"

"There's connection here." He gestured back and forth between them with his free hand and looked up at her again. He saw the beginnings of a smile on her face and it encouraged him to continue. "Flirting over a sandwich counter was…nice, I guess. A nice… _thing_ …in my day that's usually full of staring at a computer screen, creative team meetings, et cetera. I get to eat a tasty sandwich and attempt to flirt with a pretty girl." He shrugged and her smile widened.

"But thinking about that now, it's kinda meh. Paltry. Insignificant."

"Why now?"

"Uhh…I dunno. Yesterday. Last night. This morning. This right here, right now." He diverted his gaze to her shoulder, realizing he was maybe talking too much now. And to think just a few minutes earlier, his filter had been in tip top shape.

Sarah didn't seem to have a response to that.

He winced a little. "Sorry. Too much?"

"No! No, no. No, it's not. It wasn't, I mean." She tugged his hand again and forced him to meet her piercing blue gaze. "We've got quite the setting here. Hawaii has a sort of magic…feeling…in the air."

"It's not the setting. It's you. Or…" He cleared his throat. "…maybe it's a combination. But mostly you. You're sort of…amazing."

Her smile was quiet as she looked out at the ocean, the breeze picking up the strands of her hair that escaped the hair tie and sweeping it over her face. She pushed it back behind her ear delicately, and then she met his gaze again. "Who taught you how to talk to people like that?"

Chuck wasn't sure how to answer that and it must've shown on his face because she giggled and scooted even closer to him, their shoulders touching.

"Seriously, you have a way with words, Chuck. Very eloquent. And sweet."

"Yeeaah, I'mmmmm the sweetest," he drawled, grinning out at the rolling waves, trying to downplay her words a bit because it was embarrassing him.

"You are, though. Since I met you yesterday, you've said some things to me that were incredibly kind, compliments, things you don't have to say. And I can tell you're saying it to make me feel good. It's worked, too. But it's just so…unnecessary, and therefore, also super thoughtful." She shrugged, looking at him steadily.

"I guess I like the idea of you feeling good."

He looked back at her just as steadily, well aware of the extra meaning in his words, his brain choosing a hell of a time to remind him of his efforts to make her feel good that very morning.

And when Sarah broke his gaze, turning towards the water, her chest rising with a slow, deep breath, there was an unmistakable spot of color on her cheek.

"So the point you're making," she said, clearing her throat quietly, "is that I've made your…thing…with the sandwich girl feel insignificant?"

"In just twenty four hours, you've made it seem silly and inconsequential. Yes." He sent her a long look as she squirmed a bit. "I hope I'm not coming on too strong. Really. I don't want to scare you," he said honestly. "But I guess I'm a little gutsy because I'm on vacation and leaving in a few weeks so why not just freaking _go for it_ , ya know? Annnnnd we got to this point because I complimented your sandwich making abilities. Soooo…"

He chuckled and ducked his chin as he heard her laugh, her fingers squeezing his, arms bumping. And then he felt her head drop to his shoulder, her hair tickling his jaw in the best way. He tilted his own head, nuzzling her with his cheek.

"Something happened," she agreed softly, the breeze carrying her words to him over the sound of the waves rolling up and down the shore. "I don't know what, but let's not analyze it or try to break it down, huh?" She nuzzled his shoulder a bit, scooting as close as possible without climbing directly into his lap.

"You have a deal, Scuba Sarah."

"Oh my God," she groaned, and he laughed again. "Can we just open the champagne? Jesus Christ, Chuck…"

He laughed and watched as she reached into the cooler, handing him the flutes and gingerly taking the chilled bottle out.

It took an embarrassingly long time for Chuck to pop the cork. He sat there struggling with it, trapping the bottle between his legs as he pushed on the cork.

"Need me to do it?" she teased, and he glared a bit at her.

"No. Thanks. I got it."

She shrugged innocently and watched him struggle again, propping her chin on her hand. She was teasing him on purpose, he knew.

It finally popped out, shooting off into the darkness now that the sun was gone and they'd never actually built that small fire Sarah'd said she wouldn't be opposed to while they were driving in the car.

"Oh. Crap." Chuck blinked, and then he handed a giggling Sarah the bottle. "You pour. I'll find."

He could feel her gaze on him as he stumbled up to his feet and hurried across the sand in the same direction the cork flew off in. "Well, this should be super easy yeeaahh," he drawled over his shoulder. "A cork that's literally the exact same color as this sand."

He heard her laugh as he got down on his hands and knees and started coming his fingers through the sand to try to find it. "Shell. Shell. Rock. Shell. Bottle cap! Found a bottle cap."

"You're looking for a cork, Chuck."

"Aw, shit. That's right." He snapped for her benefit and heard a giggle. "You know, for the record, if this were Huntington Beach in California, I would've accidentally touched a used condom by now."

"Eeeewwwww!" She cackled from much nearer behind him and he glanced over his shoulder to see she was approaching. She made a gagging sound. "That's seriously disgusting. People leave used condoms on the beach in California?"

"Not everyone. I mean…I've never done that."

"Oh? Well that's comforting."

"Not yet anyway."

He felt her hand shove the back of his head as he laughed and he fell over into the sand in a jumble of limbs. She was grinning down at him, her arms crossed. "Shut up." She shook her head and knelt down next to him, skimming her hands over the sand to help him look for the cork.

As soon as she turned her face away from him, he reached out to give her a gentle push, just enough to throw her off balance. She plopped into the sand with a squeak and her jaw fell open as she looked over at him.

"That Mother Nature again," he said innocently. "She can sneak up on—No! Ah!"

He giggled as Sarah pounced on him, her fingers going for his sides.

Chuck caught her hand and pushed it away, not moving fast enough to get the other one.

He had to suffer through a few seconds of merciless tickling before he was able to get both of her arms pinned behind her back, all of her weight pressing down against him as he lay there in the sand.

"We still have to find that cork," Sarah murmured, her blue eyes looking right down into his brown ones.

"Think they might be able to trace it back to you?"

She giggled. "I wouldn't put it past them. They'd have Mother Nature on their side."

Chuck flipped them over with a grin, pinning her to the sand as she gasped. He caught something out of the corner of his eye as he moved in to kiss her, oh so slowly…Her eyelids fluttered, she craned her neck a little to try to meet him halfway.

And then he pulled back and held up the cork he'd seen in the sand near her shoulder. "Found it."

She narrowed her eyes and burst out laughing, shaking her head as she shoved him off of her. They climbed to their feet, both of them doing their best to shake and slap as much of the sand off of their clothes and skin as possible.

And as they settled back onto the towel to enjoy their champagne in the soft beach breeze, admiring the sliver of moon above them, Chuck sought to slide this night, this moment, into his databank of good memories—the ones he thought of on the bad days, on his worst days, to try to pick himself back up. He was determined not to forget this. He would never forget this.


End file.
